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Animal health and welfare strategy for Great Britain
The Animal Health and Welfare Strategy for Great Britain is the route map for work to improve the health and welfare of kept animals in England, Scotland and Wales. It is a Strategy for all who have a role to play - Government, the food and farming industry, vets, consumer groups and many others. It covers animals kept for pleasure or profit - pets, livestock, game and wildlife where it impacts on kept animals.
The Strategy’s aim is to: “develop a new partnership in which we can make a lasting and continuous improvement in the health and welfare of kept animals while protecting society, the economy, and the environment from the effect of animal disease”.
It sets out a vision for animal health and welfare in Great Britain, showing where we want to be in 2014. This is a strong challenge for everyone involved and the Strategy contains important guiding principles, showing what needs to be done to create the world described in the vision.
The Strategy forms the framework for all of Defra’s work on animal health and welfare. This site will give you more information about the Strategy, what has been achieved so far, as well as the important role of the independent England Implementation Group.
Latest news
6 August 2009 - Unlocking Potential - A report on veterinary expertise in food animal production by Professor Philip Lowe has been published.
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Key documents
- Animal Health and Welfare Framework (PDF 46 KB)
- Animal Health and Welfare Strategy for Great Britain (PDF 1.28 MB)
- Animal Welfare Delivery Strategy (PDF 170 KB) sets goals and objectives for the delivery of the welfare aspects of the AHWS in England
- Defra Progress Report 2005 (PDF 495 KB) which shows what’s been achieved since the launch
- England Implementation Plan 2004 (PDF 389 KB) which outlined Defra’s programme of work when the Strategy was launched
- Strategy Evidence Base (PDF 395 KB) which brought together statistics about animal health and welfare in GB in 2004
- Strategy Regulatory Impact Assessment (PDF 189 KB)
Further information
- Development of an EU animal health strategy
- Regulation (EC) No 882/2004 on official controls performed to ensure the verification of compliance with feed and food law, animal health and animal welfare rules
Page last modified: September 18, 2009