Popular Online Animal Welfare Learning Programme Relaunches
An exciting development in Wild Welfare’s hugely successful ‘Wild About Welfare’ digital education program has today seen a re-launch of its popular English version.
With an estimate of 10,000 captive wild animal facilities worldwide and poor animal welfare widely prevalent in a significant number of these locations, thousands of animals are unnecessarily suffering. Wild Welfare developed this program to address the lack of accessible animal welfare resources and to bridge this global knowledge gap. The program aims to align learners with recognized best practices which helps to instigate positive change within captive animal care.
The free to use online program offers accessible, interactive training modules covering various key animal care topics. The course aims to up-skill captive wildlife facility staff, in turn improving welfare standards globally by fostering a culture of continuous learning. Originally launched in 2021, the course materials have since been downloaded almost 24,000 times, across 70 different countries. After expanding the program into Japanese, Vietnamese, Bahasa Indonesia and Thai, the Wild Welfare team aspired to make further updates to the digital materials, introducing additional fresh content to the online course.
Four new pages of learning materials have been added, along with several new interactive quiz activities for many of the modules. The team at the UK-based charity wanted to expand the resource to include explorations into the unique challenges faced by sanctuaries and rescue centers, as well as a deeper dive into the world of aquatic environments. Users can expect to discover newly improved video content, refreshed materials and new topics exploring the fundamental differences between care and welfare. “We hope to open up and expand the relevance of our e-learning materials to everyone working within the captive wild animal sector, whether that be in zoos, aquariums, rescue centers or sanctuaries”, expressed Sarah Bonser-Blake, the Animal Welfare Manager at Wild Welfare.
These unique, open-access materials were produced in collaboration with The Jeanne Marchig International Centre for Animal Welfare Education (JMICAWE) at the University of Edinburgh; making animal welfare education accessible to anyone working with captive wild animals around the world. The course was designed to support Wild Welfare’s global work, challenging and improving welfare standards for captive wildlife, and has already provided many new learning opportunities for animal care staff.
During the development process of the new materials, Wild Welfare staff enlisted the support of expert groups such as Asia for Animals (AfA) and the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries (GFAS). The team are additionally grateful for the help of Dr Jess Rendle for her assistance with proof-reading. Updates and amendments to the program have been steered by extensive user evaluations of the program since its launch. Comments, suggestions and feedback provided by global program users was examined and acted upon to build the best possible user experience.
“The course was extremely effective and very comprehensive, providing both breadth and depth of information” noted one UK based user of the program. “I found all the information to be very useful, interesting, informative and practical. This course helped me a lot in understanding the enrichment of wild captive animals so as to better ensure their welfare. It aided me with areas of enrichment and we have now installed boulders and platforms in lion and bear enclosures and hiding places made with natural materials in enclosures of ungulates.” explained another user from Pakistan.
Simon Marsh, Director at Wild Welfare concluded by outlining Wild Welfare’s vision for the program, stating “Our eventual goal is to revise the program materials and re-launch in each of the programs existing five languages. We will also continue to translate our e-learning materials into new languages, such as Hindi, which is currently in development”.
To access the Wild About Welfare animal husbandry e-learning program along with a host of other useful free resources, visit the charity’s website at wildwelfare.org/resources
The Jeanne Marchig International Centre for Animal Welfare Education, integrated within the R(D)SVS, which is committed to improving the health and welfare of animals through education, training, research, and promoting the important role of veterinarians in protecting animal welfare, as well as supporting capacity building in animal welfare within various parts of the world. The JMICAWE is a hub of expertise on animal welfare education, collaborating with international partners to advance understanding of animal welfare issues. Find out more at www.ed.ac.uk/vet/jeanne-marchig-centre
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