11 minute read
PIGEON POST
Pigeon post from the UK
Just as the two-year long disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic seemed to be abating in the UK, where the population is substantially vaccinated and/or had already been exposed to field infection, the late winter and early spring of 2022 brought new difficulties for our profession and the population in general. Inflation began to rise in Britain last autumn and by late winter it had reached six to seven per cent … the highest for 30 years. In response the Bank of England base rate began to edge upward. When Russia invaded the Ukraine on February 24 there was added inflationarypressure so that, at the time of writing, it now sits at around nine per cent. After years of low inflation, low interest rates and peace in Europe (since the 1990s Balkans wars), the changes this spring felt like time-travelling back into the 1970s when inflation reached almost 26 per cent and the existential threat from the Cold War Kremlin was of constant concern. The economics felt familiar but unsettling, the aggression like ancient history. It seemed so out of place in this century … so anachronistic.
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The current difficulties facing the veterinary profession have been discussed in this column previously and across the veterinarymedia, but when the lifting of coronavirus restrictions finally arrived here in March: inflation, an upward spiralling cost of energy and geo-political instability simply continued the adverse pressures. Evidence of the financial squeeze has come from the Veterinary Medicines Directorate which reported an increase in the online purchase of drugs from the black market. Clients under financial strain are declining veterinary treatment and instead sourcing drugs for themselves, without prescription, and illegally treating their animals without veterinary supervision. An example is the increasing online purchase of a prodrug of the antiviral remdesivir which is being bought from China to treat FIP because it is far cheaper than the veterinary licensed product. Data from the Petfood Manufacturers’ Association has revealed that although 2.7 million households acquired a new pet in the last
year,3.4 million households also relinquished their pet(s) in the same period. The commonest reasons given for giving up pets were: changes in living arrangements, financial constraints, work commitments and behavioural concerns. The RSPCA and Woodgreen pet charities both corroborated the data saying they had seen massively increased requests for rehoming. The problem is most acute with rabbits. Sales of new rabbits surpassed those of dogs and cats during lockdown (a 212 per cent increase in one year), but rabbit charities now report that as life has returned to normal and household budgets are stretched rabbit rehoming or abandonment rates have increased by over 250 per cent. In addition to global economic pressures, the UK is still suffering from the aftereffects of withdrawal from the European Union (EU). This is politically most evident in the border debacle in Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK, but has a land border with the Republic of Ireland which remains an EU
member.All parties are agreed that the Irish border should remain open and free for trade as this is embodied in the Good Friday Agreement (10 April 1998) which finally brought mass violence in Ulster to an end. In an awkward compromise the UK government accepted some import/export checks should be conducted on some goods passing between mainland Great Britain and Ulster. The effect of which was to create a border though the Irish Sea which has enraged Ulster loyalists who view it as a first step toward Irish unification and have withdrawn from the Northern Ireland Assembly in protest, rendering local government unworkable. From a veterinaryperspective the impact of EU withdrawal has been twofold: to increase the requirement for health certification as products cross in/out of the EU and fall in EUregistered vets working in the UK who have historically carried out around 90 per cent of these public health duties. The British Veterinary Association believes that there has been a 1255 per cent increase in the requirement for export health certificates and a 68 per cent decline in EU vets coming to work here (1,132 in 2019 down to 364 in 2021). It concludes the current situation is unsustainable. While both long-term measures to increase the numbers of domestic graduates in public health are in train and current regulations have been relaxed to encourage as many EU vets as possible to work here, this looks like a problem that isn’tgoing to be much easier to solve than the political future of the island of Ireland.
Finally,some new evidence has emerged that dogs with extreme body conformations do have shorter life expectancies. Statistical life table analysis of over 30,000 UK dog deaths between January 2016 and July 2020 found that the breeds with the lowest life expectancies were all brachycephalics: French Bulldog 4.5 years, English Bulldog 7.4 years, Pug 7.7 years and American Bulldog 7.8 years. In contrast the Jack Russell Terrier had the longest life expectancy of 12.7 years. The authors said the findings could help vets to advise which breeds to own, inform the current animal welfare debate on brachycephalics, and help in making decisions about the appropriateness of treatments for older dogs.
Ian Neville BA(Hons) BVSc MRCVS reports from Britain.
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Jeannet Kessels
Chair of Vets for Climate Action
It was a combination of distress at plans to build another coal mine close to the Great Barrier Reef, and frustration at successive governments’ failure to seriously address climate change, that prompted veterinarian Jeannet Kessels to pose aquestion on a Facebook page for vets about forming a climate action group. She never imagined it would elicit such an immediate and positive response, or that there were so many vets across the country equally concerned about climate change. A few months after that Facebook post, Veterinarians for Climate Action was established to advocate for animals, and to highlight the serious impacts the changing climate was having on all animals – wildlife, companion animals and livestock.
“I’m not great at arguing, and protesting doesn’t really suit my personality. It’s not how I’m most effective. In early 2019 I met the Farmers for Climate Action’s CEO who suggested that a similar group for vets could be powerful and effective, particularly as we’re now seeing extremes – of heat, cold, and wet – and our animals aren’t programmed to cope. Climate extremes impact animal health, welfare, production, biosecurity, and One Health,” Kessels explained. One Health being a collaborative, multisectoral and transdisciplinary approach to achieving positive health outcomes, that works at local, regional, national, and global levels. It also recognises that such outcomes cannot be achieved unless there is an interconnection of people, plants, and animals and their shared environment.
Kessels said koalas were an example of a species clearly under threat from an increased number of bushfires destroying their habitat. With their finely tuned metabolism that is able to digest and process the eucalyptus leaves that are toxic to other wildlife, this makes them particularly vulnerable.
“Extended droughts from climate change and the chronic drying of these leaves may make it even more difficult for koalas to metabolise food and survive.
“Then there are emperor penguins, challenged by the reduction of ice coverage in places like Antarctica. If they have further to walk to lay their eggs, and then to travel to and from the ocean to feed their chicks, reproduction is adversely affected. Tens of thousands of emperor penguins have stopped breeding as a result of their changed environment.”
Like so many others in the veterinary profession, Kessels’ love of animals, and her schoolwork experience in a vet practice, guided her decision to study veterinary science.
“I’ve always been drawn to animals, and I enjoy working with my hands. I loved doing surgery, and I’m verymaternal so had fun with the reproduction aspects of practice. I also enjoyed engaging with the public, so being a vet was a really good job for me and it’sone I did for 31 years.”
By 2019 Kessels had moved out of clinical practice and into a leadership role as business owner of several veterinary practices. She also stepped into the Chair role of the newly formed Vets for Climate Action which, in the three years since, has grown to having over 1800 members. “The immediate support for Vets for Climate Action has shown that people want to do something but they’re not always sure what. Vets for Climate Action is giving them a goal and an opportunity to get out and take positive action, which does make you feel better. Let’s not get depressed, let’sget active.”
Later that year, and a few months after VfCA had launched, two of the risks the organisation warned about became a reality: bushfires and floods. “Reportedly three billion animals perished orwere displaced in those 2019/20 bushfires, and 600,000 head of cattle also died in unseasonal flooding in Queensland. The livestock that didn’t drown, died of cold exposure. That’saterrible animal welfare issue with a substantial economic impact.”
The 2019/20 bushfires were the first ones definitively linked to a changing climate. Rising global temperatures – that are now widely accepted to be a result of human activity and the increased industrialisation that causes high emission levels of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrogenous and sulphur compounds, or greenhouse gases – is in large part due to the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, gas and petroleum products. Many studies have shown that rising temperatures will drive more extreme weather events like the Black Summer bushfires of 2019/20.
“These fires resulted in not just an enormous loss of animal life but also wildlife health, habitat, and crucial biodiversity.Risks that apply to human health apply to animals as well, so while the risks to human health from smoke inhalation are well known, we’re now hearing about animals born in the wild being underweight or premature. If they’re born small, they’re more likely to suffer from predation, and less likely to reach adulthood and breed. Wecan talk about putting water out for koalas and birds to survive, but we need to be aware of what we could permanently lose and so must address the root of the problem, which is emissions, mostly from coal and gas.”
Kessels uses a sailing analogy to describe the growth of VfCA. She initially visualised it as a small boat sailing on the harbour with a few crew on board, but she soon saw it grow to become acruise ship, with all aboard heading towards the same destination. Now she compares it to a warship that is hyper-focused and with three clear targets. These are to reduce greenhouse emissions across the animal care sector; to work with governments to develop stronger climate policies; and to inspire all those who love and care for animals to act on climate change on behalf of those animals.
“I feel we’re morphing into something quite powerful, advocating for animal health and welfare, production and biodiversity.These all impact our own health, food security, and the economy.”
Although media images of wildlife and livestock suffering in the fires, and later the floods, were widespread and shocked the nation, Kessels said the threats from climate change to many animals are hidden and less well known. One example is green sea turtles of the Great Barrier Reef. Incremental warming of the sand to above 29°C where the turtles lay their eggs has resulted in a 99 per cent feminisation of turtle hatchlings. The impact of this will not be immediately obvious because turtles have a long life expectancy but it may, in fact, lead to their extinction.
Additionally, she said diseases previously seen in the north are spreading south. Diseases such as lumpy skin, African horse sickness, African Swine fever and Japanese encephalitis carry serious risks for biosecurity, animal and human health, and our economy.
To increase understanding about the link between climate change and its impacts on animal health and welfare, a key aspect of VfCA’s work involves education.
“We organised a series of seminars for veterinary professionals, former Chief Veterinary Officers, and allied animal organisations such as the RSPCA and Zoos, to highlight the realities of climate change. The public understand COVID-19 because Chief Health Officers stood up and explained it well, but the threats and impacts of climate change have been less well understood and are often confused with sustainability and recycling.”
Establishing those relationships and working closely with a group of 33 former CVOs has helped build policies like the Australian Veterinary Association’s Climate Change and Animal Health, Welfare and Production policy, and Kessels said it was exciting the national RSPCA focused on Climate Change and Animal Welfare at their annual conference this year.
With a newly elected federal government, VfCA will continue to advocate for emissions reductions as a priority, with even stronger net-zero emissions targets and a rapid transition to renewable energy.In conjunction with the former CVOs, VfCA also looks to support the development of a ruminant emissions reduction policy. And it will support veterinary practices to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and improve their sustainability.
VfCA welcomes support from all those who work with and carefor animals. For moreinformation on how to be involved go to: www.vfca.org.au ■ ANNE LAYTON-BENNETT
