Dr Emma Milne, a British vet and long-standing campaigner on animal welfare points, significantly these regarding the well being issues suffered by many brachycephalic animals, is to obtain this 12 months’s World Small Animal Veterinary Affiliation (WSAVA) Award for Companion Animal Welfare.
Emma Milne certified as a veterinary surgeon in 1996 and labored in apply within the UK for 12 years earlier than changing into a scientific diet advisor for Hill’s for seven years, throughout which era she moved to France. She is well-known within the UK following her appearances in a TV collection referred to as Vets in Follow and her function as a presenter on documentaries on wildlife. She was one of many first veterinarians to spotlight the well being points suffered by many brachycephalic and excessive breeds and launched the web platform Vets Towards Brachycephalism in 2017 to encourage vets worldwide to affix the worldwide battle in opposition to breeding extraordinarily brachycephalic animals. She additionally campaigns on the accountable use of animal pictures in advertising, calling out advertisers which use deformed animals in a ‘cute’ approach, to promote their merchandise.
Dr Milne can be an writer – her most up-to-date ebook, ‘Choosing a Pedigree: How to decide on a wholesome pet or kitten,’ highlighted well being issues in pedigree canine and cats related to physique dimension and form, in addition to different inherited situations. Her different writing features a collection of kids’s pet care books, The Pet Detective Sequence, together with ‘Is a cat the precise pet for you?’ The books spotlight the 5 welfare wants of companion animals and the significance of their psychological, in addition to bodily, wellbeing.
Commenting on the Award to Dr Milne, Dr Cheryl Good, member of the WSAVA’s Animal Wellness and Welfare Committee (AWWC), stated: ” Emma Milne exemplifies the mixing of animal welfare with veterinary medication. Her advocacy on the welfare points related to choosing for brachycephaly and excessive conformation has had worldwide impacts on numerous numbers of animals.
“Her affect on the group is felt globally as she evokes future and present veterinarians and the general public together with her many talking engagements and written works. Dr Milne’s authorship of kids’s books and nationwide media appearances exhibit her creativity and dedication to succeed in new audiences and amplify her affect.”
Dr Milne stated: “I had no thought I’d even been nominated for this unbelievable award. I needed to learn the e-mail thrice earlier than I believed what I used to be seeing. I work alongside individuals who I really feel are absolute giants in animal welfare and ethics so to be awarded this myself is indescribable. I can’t thank those that nominated me sufficient or get near expressing verbally simply how a lot it means to me, It’s issues like this that, on the low days, hold me fired as much as proceed what has change into my life’s work.”
The WSAVA Companion Animal Welfare Award acknowledges particular person veterinarians who’ve made a major contribution to animal welfare and impressed others to play their half in advancing welfare globally. Dr Milne will obtain her award throughout this 12 months’s WSAVA World Congress, which takes place from 27-29 September in Lisbon, Portugal.
The WSAVA represents greater than 200,000 veterinarians worldwide by means of its 115 member associations and works to reinforce requirements of scientific take care of companion animals. Its core actions embrace the event of WSAVA International Pointers in key areas of veterinary apply, together with ache administration, diet and vaccination, along with lobbying on essential points affecting companion animal care worldwide.
