Scottish Animal Welfare Commission: annual report 2024 to 2025

1. Word from the Chair

It is my great pleasure to introduce this fifth annual review of the activities of the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission (SAWC), reporting on our activities from October 2024 to November 2025. The SAWC Commissioners meet together on four occasions per year, mostly in person, and where detailed discussions are held on the various activities of SAWC. We also have several working groups, which meet regularly, usually online as time-efficient methods of meeting, and which are focused on addressing specific animal welfare issues of relevance to Scotland. As you can see in this report, the Commission currently has seven areas of activity, with two new areas just starting (equine welfare and a review of the 2006 Animal Welfare Act) and three areas recently concluding with reports just published (in aquaculture and the use of cleaner fish; ensuring welfare is considered in wildlife management and the provision of slaughterhouses and abattoirs in Scotland). SAWC is also currently responding to a commission from the Cabinet Secretary to provide independent advice on welfare monitoring within the Good Food Nation plan.

The work of the SAWC this year has considered a number of important welfare issues for wildlife and companion animals. We have published reports on the responsible ownership and care of domestic cats, the use of aversive training devices (other than electronic training aids) in dogs, and the evidence supporting sentience in fish and identifying where the legislation does not fully take this into account. SAWC has raised concerns about the issue of noise associated with fireworks and the impact that this has on the welfare of farm, zoo, companion and wild animals, and continues to address other issues where there is a timely or important need to express an opinion for Scotland’s animals. Although SAWC takes guidance and requests from Scottish Government and others, it is independent in forming its workplan, and any recommendations are arrived at on the basis of evidence, considered from the point of view of animal welfare costs or benefits. This year SAWC also responded to various consultations relating to the use of animals, including stunning in pigs, catching and handling poultry and genetics in dog and cat breeding.

SAWC has also continued to maintain strong working links with related groups. In May the SAWC Chair attended the annual EuroFAWC meeting in Vienna, which brings together chairs and representatives of FAWC and AWC groups across Europe and New Zealand. These meetings are valuable in sharing best practice and developments across Europe and allow us to place the work in Scotland in a broader context. SAWC members regularly attend meetings of the Animal Welfare Committee (formerly Farm Animal Welfare Committee), and SAWC invites the Chair of AWC and the Chair of the Animal Sentience Committee to attend SAWC plenary meetings. SAWC looks forward to continuing close and supportive contact with both these bodies. SAWC also maintains close working relationships with the Wild Animal Welfare Committee, which contributes to reports on wildlife matters. These contacts ensure that SAWC is able to provide a strong and impartial view on animal welfare for Scottish farm, companion and wild animals.