Animal welfare successes

In 2022 Winchester was awarded Gold Hedgehog Friendly Campus status, by the British Hedgehog Preservation Society, for our efforts to support hedgehog conservation on campus. We’re one of only a few UK universities to have achieved this, and are very proud of the efforts of our staff and students in protecting our campus hedgehogs. CAW faculty and students continued to support a large number of animal welfare campaigns in the UK and abroad, often working with NGO partners. Dr Steven McCulloch was invited to provide oral and written evidence to the UK Parliamentary EFRA Committee on the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill in July 2021, which became law in April 2022. The Sentience Act recognises the sentience of animals and provides a duty for the Government to establish an Animal Sentience Committee, scrutinising adverse impacts of policy on sentient animals. Dr McCulloch’s research previously documented the exclusion of sentient species from Government policy-making, and provided recommendations for reforms, including a specific advisory committee to scrutinise impacts on sentient animals. Dr McCulloch’s research and impact on the development of the Sentience Bill formed a University of Winchester REF 2021 impact case study. The Sentience Act also recognises cephalopods (e.g., octopus and squid) and crustaceans (e.g., crabs) as sentient beings. Prof. Knight also provided oral and written evidence to an Australian parliamentary committee scrutinizing animal research in June 2022. This was recently followed by the University of Newcastle confirming they will end their nose-only forced inhalation research on mice – one of the topics under scrutiny.

The University of Winchester is now one of very few to have received Bronze, Silver and Gold accreditation from the British Hedgehog Preservation Society, for our efforts to support hedgehog conservation on campus.