AHW 2024

Animal Health Week (AHW) is an annual national public awareness campaign organized by the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA) and hosted by veterinarians across Canada. Each year, through AHW, the veterinary community draws attention to an important health-related message.

The CVMA will promote the 2024 Animal Health Week theme, Animal Sentience: Feelings Beyond Words, Compassion Beyond Limits, from October 6 to 12. This year, we emphasize the importance of recognizing and understanding the emotional and sensory experiences of animals. Throughout the week, we will raise awareness about the significance of treating animals with compassion, ensuring their health, wellness, and emotional well-being are respected and protected.

While we provided AHW packages to clinics across Canada in previous years, we no longer print and mail AHW posters in an effort to reduce our carbon footprint and contribute to sustainability. As we move forward, we will share messages directly through our social media channels each day during AHW. We invite everyone to like, comment, and share these key messages directly from the CVMA’s official accounts to help us reach a broader audience with tailored content.

CVMA Social Media Accounts:

Be sure to use #AnimalHealthWeek when posting on social media to help bring attention to these important messages!

“Animal Health Week is an opportunity to showcase the importance of animal welfare to communities across Canada,” says Dr. Tim Arthur, CVMA President. “Animal Sentience is foundational to Animal Welfare. If we believe that animals have the ability to experience states such as happiness or fear, we are obligated as a society to take welfare into consideration whenever we interact with animals.”

Key Messages:

The 2024 Animal Health Week campaign’s key messages aim to educate the public on the critical role that understanding animal sentience plays in fostering a more humane and caring society.

  1. Understanding Animal Sentience: Animal sentience refers to the capacity of animals to feel, perceive, and experience emotions like joy, pain, and fear. Recognizing sentience acknowledges that animals are not just living beings but also have subjective experiences.
  2. Ethical Responsibility: Recognizing animal sentience places an ethical responsibility on humans to treat animals with respect and compassion. It challenges society to consider the welfare of animals in all interactions, from wildlife to production animals to pets.
  3. Impact on Animal Welfare: Acknowledging animal sentience is crucial for improving animal welfare standards. It leads to better living conditions, more humane treatment, and ethical considerations in industries like agriculture, entertainment, and research.
  4. Policy and Legislation: Animal sentience should be a foundational concept in shaping policies and laws that protect animals. It supports the development of regulations that ensure humane treatment of animals and helps prevent cruelty.
  5. Animal Behavior and Communication: Understanding that animals are sentient encourages more in-depth study of their behavior and communication. This can lead to better human-animal interactions and improved care practices across many species.
  6. Human-Animal Bond: Recognizing sentience enhances the human-animal bond by fostering empathy and understanding. It encourages people to see animals as beings with their own emotions and experiences.
  7. Implications for Animal Testing: Acknowledging animal sentience demands a re-evaluation of animal testing practices. It pushes for alternatives that do not cause suffering and supports the use of ethical research methods.
  8. Environmental Conservation: Understanding animal sentience can strengthen conservation efforts. It emphasizes the importance of preserving habitats and protecting species not just for ecological balance but for the well-being of sentient creatures.
  9. Education and Awareness: Promoting animal sentience awareness is key to changing public attitudes towards animals. Education can lead to more compassionate behaviors and support for animal welfare improvements.
  10. Global Perspective: Recognizing animal sentience aligns with a global movement towards more humane treatment of animals. It fosters international cooperation in improving animal welfare standards worldwide.