Companion Animal Sector Council

26/04/2026

11/04/2026

The deadline for rescue and rehoming operations (Animal Welfare Establishments) based in Wales to take part in the survey to provide information to the Welsh Government has been extended. If you are an AWE based in Wales then please take the time to contribute to this vital data collection. For further information please contact [email protected]. Full details are below:

Welsh AWEs Licensing Survey (with optional prize draw) – Extended Deadline

Harriet Pierpoint Consulting Ltd is carrying out a survey on behalf of the Animal Welfare Network for Wales (AWNW) to help build a clearer understanding of the Animal Welfare Establishments (AWEs) landscape in Wales and to inform future policy on potential AWE licensing.

Your perspective is important to us, and to allow additional time for participation, the deadline has been extended for the final time to 10:00am on 13 April 2026.

The short questionnaire takes approximately 5–10 minutes to complete and includes an optional prize draw for a £250 organisational donation. All responses are confidential, and organisations will not be identified unless they choose to be.
If you have not already received the survey link, please contact:
[email protected]

You may also receive a telephone call or Facebook message from Harriet Pierpoint or her colleague Dr Jenny Maher inviting you to take part.

An Animal Welfare Establishment (AWE) is any establishment that presents itself as taking in and caring for vulnerable animals, either temporarily or permanently. This includes (but is not limited to) animal homes, sanctuaries, shelters, rehoming centres, rest homes, hospitals, rehabilitation centres, rescue centres, and stray animal facilities (including those run by local authorities or contractors), as well as organisations operating through foster carers. Other types of establishment may also qualify, so please follow the survey link for full details.

The researchers are interested in hearing from any AWE with a base in Wales.

Thank you once again for your continued support.

26/03/2026

Many of you are running rescues, or know people who are involved in the sector. If you or any contacts are based in Wales then this is of importance to you. Please feedback to this survey.

Harriet Pierpoint Consulting Ltd is carrying out a survey for the Animal Welfare Network for Wales (AWNW) to help build a clearer understanding of the Animal Welfare Establishments (AWEs) landscape in Wales and to inform future policy on potential AWE licensing.

The short questionnaire takes around 5–10 minutes to complete and includes an optional prize draw for a £250 donation. All responses are confidential, and you will not be identified unless you choose to be. If you wish to be involved please contact [email protected].

An AWE is any establishment that presents itself as taking in and caring for vulnerable animals—temporarily, permanently, or both. This includes animal homes, sanctuaries, shelters, rehoming centres, rest homes, hospitals, rehabilitation centres, rescue centres, and stray animal facilities (local authority or contractor), as well as organisations operating through fosterers. These are examples only; other types of establishments may also qualify so please do follow the survey link for further information. The researchers are interested in AWEs with any form of base in Wales.

24/03/2026

Can you help DEFRA by sharing your views?

UK government and the European Union (EU) have agreed to pursue a new Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) agreement. This, together with the Windsor Framework, is proposed to make it easier, cheaper and more predictable for goods to move not just between the UK and the EU, but also within the UK itself, including smoother movements from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.

This agreement covers the trade, production and movement of plants, animals and their products; food and feed safety; broader nutrition-related areas such as food supplements, fortified foods, food for specific groups, nutrition and health claims, and nutrition labelling; wider agrifood rules related to food labelling, organics, key agri-food marketing standards and compositional standards; as well as regulation of pesticides and biocides.

DEFRA are keen to hear from businesses of all sizes, including those that do not currently trade with the EU. Link in the comments to share your views, and to find out more information.

11/03/2026

Our CASC forum venue this year is the wonderful Broadway House in Westminster.

With presentations and round table discussions we will be focusing on the Government's recently published Animal Welfare Strategy and how our work can support it.

Spaces are limited to 100 so be sure to secure your place early! for registration detail email [email protected]

27/02/2026

We have been out and about in London recently choosing the venue for our 2026 CASC forum. This years event will be on the 2nd July in central London, just a few minutes walk from the Houses of Parliament.

More details of the presentations and round table discussions to follow as we firm up the programme but if you are interested in attending you can drop an email to [email protected]

16/05/2025

There are a few debates (to put it nicely) about the term domesticated. But a team of academics have published a paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences with this definition-

"the process of domestication should instead be defined solely as evolution of a nonhuman population in response to an anthropogenic niche and that a domestic population is one that cannot sustain itself outside of an anthropogenic niche."

What's everyone's thoughts? Link to the paper in the comments.