Prestigious award
International association honours Island veterinarian
The co-ordinator of the Sir James Dunn Animal Welfare Centre at the Atlantic Veterinary College (AVC) in Charlottetown recently received international recognition for her work in animal welfare.
Alice Crook was honoured by the World Veterinary Association (WVA) and Ceva Santé Animale, a multinational veterinary pharmaceutical company, with the WVA Animal Welfare Award for North America at the association’s 34th annual conference in Barcelona, Spain.
Crook is one of only five veterinarians worldwide who received the prestigious awards. The other winners are from Brazil, China, Senegal and Sweden.
Dean of AVC Greg Keefe congratulated Crook on her award.
“Animal welfare is at the heart of what we do as veterinarians, and Dr. Crook’s contributions to this field are exemplary. She is a great role model for other veterinarians, veterinary students and others whose work involves animal welfare.”
A media release issued by the WVA and Ceva said each of the winners typifies the critical role of veterinarians in the protection and improvement of the welfare of all animals.
“The two winners from Canada and Sweden equally exemplified the important societal role that veterinarians have in researching, advocating and educating politicians, public health authorities, media and the general public in implementing the highest animal welfare standards,” said the release.
Since 1994, Crook has led the development and growth of the Sir James Dunn Animal Welfare Centre, which promotes animal welfare through research, service and education. She works with veterinarians, students, governments, humane societies and other similar organizations and the public to promote animal welfare and shares her knowledge and expertise with veterinary students, teaching them to become leaders in animal welfare.
Crook’s particular areas of interest are animal abuse and effective veterinary response, pain management, welfare-friendly veterinary practice for large and small animals, feral cat welfare and enactment of effective animal welfare legislation nationally and provincially. For many years, she was a valued member of the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association’s Animal Welfare Committee, and continues to contribute to the work of the committee.
“Animal welfare is at the heart of what we do as veterinarians, and Dr. Crook’s contributions to this field are exemplary. She is a great role model for other veterinarians, veterinary students and others whose work involves animal welfare.”
Greg Keefe, Dean of AVC