The second global conference on Animal Welfare was convened by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) last year in Cairo, Egypt, from October 20 to 22. The conference had a dual purpose: assess progress of the 172 member nations in implementing outcomes of the 2004 Conference in Paris (standards covering live animal transport and slaughter, killing for disease control purposes, and stray dog population control for rabies prevention) and determine how next to proceed in developing global standards of on-farm animal management.
Over 400 people attended, representing OIE national delegates (the chief veterinary officers of each member country), deans of veterinary faculties, heads of research institutes, regulatory officials, and representatives of partner organizations, nongovernmental and farmers’ organizations. AWI was represented by Senior Farm Animal Policy Specialist Marlene Halverson.