New NSERC Research Program in Swine Welfare Announced
A research scientist with the Western College of Veterinary Medicine has been named as the NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Swine Welfare.
The University of Saskatchewan in partnership with the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada has announced the creation of a new research program that will study the welfare of farmed pigs.
Dr. Doug Freeman, the Dean of the University of Saskatchewan's Western College of Veterinary Medicine, observes, when it comes to production animals, animal welfare and well being have become an issue of greater importance for the general public and for producers.
University of Saskatchewan
The public wants to know that the meat producing, food producing animals and not only healthy but are managed in such a way as to address welfare and their well being.
Our college, the Western College of Veterinary Medicine, has had a faculty member working in bovine and beef cattle welfare for a long time and so this particular Chair in Swine Welfare dove tails quite nicely with that history of work with us.
As veterinary school you might think that the primary area of importance is animal health and certainly it is but animal welfare and animal well being needs to go hand in hand with that as well.
The recipient of that chair award is Dr. Yolande Seddon and she is an Assistant Professor in Large Animal Clinical Sciences in the Western College of Veterinary Medicine.
The award is worth over two million dollars which includes funding from industry partners and NSERC and the college. It will include funding for post doctoral researchers and graduate students and the role essentially is to conduct cutting edge research related to swine ethology or behavior and impact on animal welfare.
Dr. Freeman says moving forward concerns related to animal well being and animal welfare are going to continue to be important to the public and to producers.
He suggests that's reflected in the large number of industry partners that are part of this chair.