The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) will bring together experts on 16 October for an online exchange on genetics, conformational traits and their impact on the health and welfare of dogs and cats. The event will take place from 10:00 to 13:00 CEST.
The meeting follows the European Commission’s adoption of the Regulation on the welfare and traceability of dogs and cats. Under the Regulation, the Commission may adopt supplementary measures based on EFSA scientific opinions, including measures addressing the breeding of dogs and cats with excessive conformational traits.
Excessive traits: their impact and how to measure them
The expert exchange will consider recent scientific developments, key challenges and risk-assessment activities, with three main areas of discussion: defining excessive conformational traits; the evidence on their health and welfare consequences; and the potential use of quantitative indicators for their assessment.
Presentations will address topics including mutations and excessive traits, the need for treatment, welfare risk assessment, prevalence and health testing, brachycephalic cats and extreme breeding, as well as tools for assessing innate health and breeding animals.
Online expert exchange on 16 October
Speakers include Dan O’Neill (Royal Veterinary College, UK), Marie Abitbol (VetAgro Sup, FR), Vladimira Erjavec (University of Ljubljana, SI), Lodi Laméris (BuRO, NL), Liisa Lilja-Maula (University of Helsinki, FI), Simona Cannas (University of Milan, IT), Christine Arhant (Austrian Extreme Breeding Commission, AT) and Hille Fieten (Utrecht University, NL).
The full programme is now available. The event is open to professionals and stakeholders interested in animal welfare science, genetics and conformational traits in dogs and cats. A Q&A session will conclude the meeting, with questions focused on the three scientific discussion areas. Please note that registration closes on 14 October at 12:00 CEST. More information or register for the EFSA event here.
(photo ©Heszter/Pixabay)