29 May 2009 - Four Australasian partners have joined Massey University's Animal Welfare Science and Bioethics Centre to provide expert advice to the OIE, the World Organisation for Animal Health.

The Massey centre was appointed as an OIE collaborating centre in 2007, the only collaborating centre in New Zealand and the first in the world to solely focus on animal welfare. Animal welfare science groups at AgResearch, Livestock Industries at the Australian CSIRO, the University of Melbourne and the University of Queensland now join the Massey centre to form the OIE Collaborating Centre for Animal Welfare Science and Bioethical Analysis.

Co-Director of the Massey centre Professor David Mellor says that the newly formed entity was "the next logical step" for Massey, and the team is delighted to now be working alongside 27 other internationally recognised professional scientific staff.

"It is a novel approach in that the OIE usually has single institution collaborating centres. But we managed to demonstrate that the multi-group proposal would better serve the OIE because the many different facets of animal welfare require wide discipline coverage. With the support of the two Governments, the five New Zealand and Australian groups acting together put us in a very strong position in this region - we have great strength in animal welfare science and are in a position to contribute to animal welfare developments around the world."

Professor Mellor and co-director Professor Kevin Stafford lead the Massey University Animal Welfare Science and Bioethics Centre. It is a virtual centre, operating across the University's Institute for Veterinary, Animal and Biomedical Sciences and the Institute for Food, Nutrition and Human Health. Projects have included developing practical solutions to animal welfare issues, evaluating husbandry practices, developing acceptable methods for pest control, development of livestock industry and other animal welfare codes and teaching animal welfare science and ethics.

The OIE was formed in 1924, and is a global animal health organisation with 175 members.