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| Mio the cat enjoys the snow. |
After
a small working tour of Italy and England (very select bits of both), SAT has
now returned to our home headquarters in Sydney where its 9 degrees Celsius (I
know our European friends will be laughing at us, but this is c-c-cold!).
One
of the unexpected highlights of the trip was meeting Dr Christine Leeb from the
Institute of Livestock Sciences, Department of Sustainable Agricultural Systems
at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU) in Austria.
Aside
from talking about animal welfare research in general the discussion turned to
companion animals. Dr Leeb shares her life with two cats that she describes as
three-quarters “organic farmhouse cat”, one quarter Maine Coon. The brother
(Mio, the grey prince, named after a famous Astrid Lindgren story) and sister
(Zora, named after a character in the children’s book “Die Rote Zora”) are a
stunning pair who enjoy playing in snow when it happens to be around.
 |
| Littermate Zora is also a fan of snow. |
If
you’ve not yet enrolled in the University of Edinburgh’s introductory course on
animal welfare, it’s well worth it (especially since it is free).
You
can sign up here.
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| Zora can jump in the snow too. |
On
the animal welfare theme, AWSELVA, the Animal Welfare Science, Ethics and Law
Veterinary Association, is an organisation with membership open to vets but also
others working in animal welfare science, ethics and law fields. Click here for more info.
If
you don’t think birds are clever, this video might change your view. It shows a
crow behaving very intelligently – or at least in a way that impresses humans. Check this out.
FINALLY I need to announce that our David Attenborough Giveaway Winners have been selected but the announcement is slightly delayed and will be made on Monday. Thank you to everyone who entered!
