Keynote speaker, Dr Anne McBride, Director of the Applied Animal Behaviour Unit at Southampton University, discussed the link between animal welfare and skills and said: “The key actions to meeting animal welfare challenges in the 21st Century are to work collaboratively, educate at all levels, legislate as appropriate with flexibility, do more research and educate, educate, educate.”
The animal care industry employs over 47,000 people in England and over 13,000 businesses including animal welfare organisations, pet shops, boarding, grooming, zoos and safari parks. The Agreement demonstrates a commitment from industry to the improvement of provision and funding of skills and training for all businesses and employees in the industry.
Veterinary Management and Training Consultant, Maggie Shilcock, in her presentation added: “The animal care industry is not just animal based and a lot of people entering the industry want to work with animals and not necessarily people. This is not good as you have to deal with people on a day to day basis. It is important to look after the customer as well as the animal because the clients provide the industry with incomes for businesses and funds and support for charities, which in turn helps you to provide good animal welfare.”
Lantra’s Animal Care Industry Partnership Manager, Lisa Jarvis, added: “Training and education can help businesses, organisations and individuals meet many of the challenges faced by industry. The agreement is a positive step to ensure that training is relevant and will help people working within the animal care industry to not only stay in line with new legislation but satisfy customer wants and needs therefore enhancing businesses across the industry.”
