14 Apr 2022
Former BVA president Sean Wensley publishes book that aims to put the veterinary profession at the forefront of the societal discussion about animal welfare.
Tom Jackson
Job Title
Sean Wensley hopes his new book will offer a “platform to communicate veterinary policy and experience” on welfare.
A former BVA president’s book that aims to put the veterinary profession and evidence-based information front and centre of the animal welfare debate will hit the shelves later this month.
Through a Vet’s Eyes: How We Can All Choose a Better Life for Animals, by Sean Wensley, is described as an “eye-opening polemic about our relationship with animals; how we treat them, how we get it wrong and what we can do to fix it”.
Animal sentience, humane and sustainable agriculture, breeding dogs for looks over health, and wild animals impacted by human activities are some of the topics scrutinised in the book.
Dr Wensley, who was BVA president from 2015 to 2016, described the book as a “platform to communicate veterinary policy and experience, to bring the veterinary professions front and centre of the important societal debate and discussion about animal welfare”.
He said: “The book seeks to do two things. One is raise awareness of some of the animal welfare problems that are pervasive through society, and back that information and awareness-raising with science and the evidence base, as we understand it, which of course, is evolving all the time.
“Then, importantly, it couples that with a sense of what we can do about it. It’s not simply looking to list lots of problems and say we have a lot of work to do – I think there is a sense of scale, need and urgency – but I hope it has a sufficiently practical focus to really help all of us do something; particularly informed, concerned citizens who increasingly want to do more and see more being done.”
A lifelong naturalist, Dr Wensley – senior veterinary surgeon for communication and education at PDSA, who also chairs the Federation of Vets of Europe Animal Welfare Working Group – has included memoirs of time spent in the natural world in the book.
He said: “The final chapter tries to bring everything together into something of a synthesis, thinking about concepts like one health; one welfare; sustainable development; humane, sustainable animal agriculture(…) some big picture contextual considerations.
“But I hope that, while that may sound quite heavy, we reach it through the book quite naturally because I try to lighten some of the content with time spent in nature.”
