Links Group Chair Paula Boyden recently joined with colleagues to discuss companion animal welfare at the second Northern Ireland Companion Animal Welfare Conference at Stormont on 2nd October, organised by Causeway Coast Dog Rescue.

Paula spoke and took questions alongside representatives from Causeway Coast Dog RescueBattersea Dog and Cats HomeDogs TrustNaturewatch FoundationThe Human Animal Welfare AllianceDog Law Ireland’s Demi MullenHelen Ballantyne (registered veterinary nurse, registered human nurse, Transplant Clinical Nurse Specialist and One Health professional) and Professor Carri Westgarth from the University of Liverpool.

The big question was, “What does collaboration look like to improve companion animal welfare in Northern Ireland?”.  Tara Cunningham, manager and lobbyist at CCDR, invited key leaders in this field to share their expertise with the other speakers and the key stakeholders, which included charities from Northern Ireland, Wales, England and Ireland; the Police Service of Northern Ireland; local government; Members of the Legislative Assembly and Councillors.  

Paula was asked to speak on “The crisis link between animals and people”, following on from Helen Ballantyne’s discussion on “One Health, and what that means for us to work in collaboration”.   Paula’s presentation led on to that of our colleague Mark Randell from Naturewatch Foundation, who talked about “How taking crimes against animals seriously can help create safer communities for people too”.

Tara says, “Collaboration opportunities to partner with these specialists range from learning from other successful projects, identifying when animals are at risk, child safeguarding and dog safety as a public health issue, understanding “One Health” and how human and animal health & well-being interlink”.  

When animals are abused, people are at risk; when people are abused, animals are at risk (Arkow, 1996).  The Links Group continues to raise awareness of this message, and collaboration is a cornerstone of our work.  We are pleased to be able to help support animal welfare, strengthen connections with our colleagues in Northern Ireland, and discuss important issues with key stakeholders at Stormont. We look forward to progressing this crucial work.

A detailed report of the conference can be found at Northern Ireland Veterinary Today.