Where can AWAG be used?
The AWAG tool has been validated for use in a variety of species and animal use settings including pet dogs, rescue centre dogs, greyhounds, primates, wildlife park birds, cattle, pigs, and a wide variety of species including large felids, herbivores, fish and invertebrates at Marwell Zoo. Pilot studies have also been undertaken with horses.
Therefore, the AWAG is currently available for users to assess:
- Dogs
- Cattle
- Horses
- Pigs
- Laboratory species
- Captive wild animals (zoo species)
Who can use it?
The tool can be used by anyone who is assessing animal welfare – vets, vet nurses, researchers, technicians, animal carers etc.
Using the AWAG allows objective feedback on changes affecting welfare, enables drilling down to the separate components of welfare and produces an easily understood visual representation, encouraging communication about welfare. By providing a whole-life assessment of an animal’s welfare the AWAG’s temporal approach will allow those caring for animals to plan or intervene with targeted and timely interventions that can improve or prevent deterioration of an animal’s quality of life. Examples of this might be additional enrichment, alterations to husbandry practices or veterinary treatments or carrying out euthanasia at an appropriate time. When planning changes in any animal use sector it is easier to convince decision-makers when graphic and pictorial evidence based on quantitative data can be provided to back up strategies for change, or for marketing claims relating to welfare.
Next steps
The AWAG tool can be licensed to any interested organisation or individual, whether commercial, charitable or research-based.
We offer full consultancy to understand your set-up and how you want to use the AWAG tool. Our team can provide a number of scenarios set-ups from a demo environment for you to trial, to a fully customised stand-alone system, developed to your exact specifications. Recurring fees for hosting and the annual licence fees will apply, after initial development costs.
Get in touch to arrange a demo and ask any questions you may have on how using the AWAG online tool may help the welfare of animals in your care.