8 Feb 2021
“We are excited to be able to share our resources and our learning to support others with their efforts to measure and improve animal welfare” – Brooke, the working horse and welfare charity.
James Westgate
Job Title
Working horse and donkey charity Brooke has launched a free access, online repository of animal welfare indicators to be used by professionals worldwide to assess and improve animal welfare in their work.
Animal welfare indicators are scientific, non-invasive measurements of aspects that contribute to an animal’s overall welfare state, which help us to understand welfare from the animal’s perspective and include physical measures such as nasal discharge or body lesions, and behavioural measures, such as the animal’s response to contact or general attitude.
Ashleigh Brown, global animal welfare advisor at Brooke, said: “Brooke benefits from many years of experience in assessing animal welfare in the field, in numerous countries around the world. We are excited to be able to share our resources and our learning to support others with their efforts to measure and improve animal welfare.”
Brooke introduced its first working equine welfare assessment protocol in 2003 and since then has been continually refining how animal welfare is assessed in the field.
A standardised equine-based welfare assessment tool was launched in 2011, which has been used by more than 150 welfare assessors around the world and continues to be used widely within Brooke’s international country programmes.
To find out more and access the repository, visit the Brooke website.
