Animal Welfare-पशु कल्याण

Role of Veterinarian in Animal Welfare

April 3, 2022

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Role of Veterinarian in Animal Welfare

Sushma Kumari¹, Sanjay Kumar²* and S.P.Sahu

of Livestock Products Technology, Bihar Veterinary College, Patna
of Livestock Production Management, Bihar Veterinary College, Patna

^*Corresponding author

An animal is said to be in a good state of welfare if it is healthy, comfortable, well-nourished, safe and if it is not suffering from unpleasant states such as pain, fear, and distress. Good animal welfare requires disease prevention and veterinary treatment, appropriate shelter, management, nutrition, humane handling, and humane slaughter.

Animal Welfare Principles include-

The primary and basic animal welfare principle is to be kind to animals and don’t do physical harm to animal. Proper care should be taken for their feed, water, health to maintain their normal behaviour. Animals should be cared for in ways that minimize fear, pain, stress, and suffering. In case of any emergency, proper attention and medical care should be given. Cruelty to any animals in any case should be avoided. If we find an injured animal lying on the road immediately start either first care aid or contact the local SPCA or any other animal welfare organization for help.

Animal welfare doesn’t allow cruelty to animals. Cruelty to animals may be include- beating, kicking, any kind of torture, overrides, overdrives, overloading, tightly tied with heavy chain or unreasonably adminster any injurious drug or injurious substances to animals , subjected for unnecessary pain or suffering, Confining animal to cage of not proper size for comfort, failing to provide proper shelter, food and drink, keeping animal starve, thirsty, ill treatment etc.

ANIMAL CRUELTY LAWS

The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act is an Act of the Parliament of India enacted in 1960 to prevent the infliction of unnecessary pain or suffering on animals and to amend the laws relating to the prevention of cruelty to animals.
Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals(CPCSEA) The Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals(CPCSEA) is a statutory Committee, which is established under Chapter 4, Section 15(1) of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960.

Objective of CPCSEA-

The objective of CPCSEA is to ensure that animals are not subjected to unnecessary pains or suffering before, during or after performance of experiments on them. For this purpose, under the delegated powers, the Committee formulated the ‘Breeding of and Experiments on Animals (Control and Supervision) Rules, 1998’ which were amended in 2001 and then in 2006, to regulate the experimentation on animals.

Functions of CPCSEA-

The main functions of CPCSEA are:-

Registration of establishments conducting animal experimentation or breeding of animals for this purpose.
Selection and assignment of nominees for the Institutional Animal Ethics Committees of the registered establishments.
Approval of Animal House Facilities on the basis of reports of inspections conducted by CPCSEA.
Permission for conducting experiments involving use of animals. Recommendation for import of animals for use in experiments.
Action against establishments in case of established violation of any legal norm/stipulation.
Conduct of Training Programmes for the Nominees of CPCSEA. Conduct / Support of Conference / workshop on Animal Ethics.

Apart from taking help from other organizations in animal welfare, vetenarians have following role.

The veterinary profession shall continually strive to improve animal health and welfare through scientific research, education, collaboration, advocacy, and the development of legislation and regulations. Their prime duties in this regard are-

Proper and thorough examination of animals to diagnose their health problems.
To diagnose and treat animals for medical conditions.
In case of injury, treat and dress wounds.
Perform surgery on animals if required,
Test for pathological conditions and vaccinate against diseases.
Conducting postmortem examination of the vetro-legal cases.
Investigations of common offences against animals.
Investigations in case of malicious and accidental poisoning.
Investigations in case of frauds in the sale of livestock and livestock products.
Issuing health certificates – A valid health certificate by a qualified veterinarian is essential for transportation of animals in a fit condition by a rail, road, inland waterway, sea or air i.e. for confirmation that animal is not suffering from any kind os contagious or infectious diseases. In the absence of such a certificate, the carrier shall refuse to accept the consignment for transport.
To protect the interests of society at large and prevent the unethical practices in relation to animals in the society.