THE HARD YARDS TO THE CHAMPAGNE Reviewing an article by James Sawyer

James Sawyer recently wrote an interesting article reflecting and celebrating (https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/james-sawyer-83269984_the-hard-yards-to-the-champagne-oxford-activity-7291074581031788544-5umD/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop) on recent advances in the Sendai Framework for Action protecting farm animals from disasters…His perspective comes from dwelling at the high altitudes and rarified air of Headquarters, Geneva and New York, while mine comes from the field, the regions and dealing with national stakeholders.

I, however, wish I could be as patient as James is…Over half a century has passed, and although James and I, as well as many other colleagues all over the world, worked for decades on end on this very subject, farm animals worldwide are still at significant risk of disasters, thanks to industry standards and more so this year, with Climate Variability running havoc.

They say “Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it” so the following is a quick account of what and how long it took to get here and how to avoid repeating our mistakes:

THE BEGINNING:

-The Sixties- Although some may argue it was Noah and his big boat who started it all, my and James’ pedigree on international animal rescue clearly started in the sixties with Operation Gwamba in Surinam. (Time is Short and the Water Rises: Operation Gwamba [1st ed.] (Walsh, J., & Gannon, R. [1967] New York, Dutton.) *

-When & How Do We Turn Cruel?

-The Eighties- The real path to Sendai may have formally started with the initial conceptual steps built on the back of landmark research commissioned on the origins & motivations of sustained cruelty to animals since childhood, based on studies made on violent crime offenders at US penitentiary inmates (Childhood cruelty to animals and later aggression against people: a review, by Dr Alan R. Felthous & Dr Stephen R. Kellert. American Journal of Psychiatry and the Law. Jun. 1987. PubMed.)

EDUCATION:

-The Nineties- Armed with those compelling arguments, we succeeded in persuading the Ministry of Education of Costa Rica to develop and apply the first systematic curricula for primary schools on animal welfare called “Respect For All Forms Of Life”, with advice from the best scholars in North America, and which eventually turned the country into a unique example of a country free of canine rabies, high spay/neuter statistics and novel animal welfare policies, a first in the region; a case study begging to be studied and written!

-The Current Millennia- At some point during the educational project at schools, we reckoned that, on one hand, children listen to their parents and have little leverage over the faith of their pets until they grow up and become adults. On the other hand, the veterinary sector was a crucial stakeholder but still alien to our cause. The next big necessary step was obvious: to embark on a two-decade effort to develop curricula and capacity building for veterinary students at the faculty level, to, in turn, influence the pet owner and the farm animal markets! This effort eventually turned interactive and online, reaching faculties and universities on three continents to help mould new generations of professionals in charge of and as referents of animal welfare worldwide.

HYOGO FRAMEWORK:

2005 - 2015 - Before Sendai, the UN worked under this agreement, and a couple of US colleagues and I had the privilege to discuss animal welfare in disasters, with the help of an influential partner working for the US Department of State as the promoter/organizer, in a novel panel entitled “Intersection of Animal and Human Issues in Disasters”, the first official event of such nature at the UN (Jan 2005). This was historically, the first of a series of similar, significant UN events we hosted at global and regional UNDRR platforms in the disaster risk reduction world of farm animals, which eventually led to the Sendai Framework for Action.

TWO DECADES OF BEST PRACTICES:

With the help of success cases, pilots based on best practices were initiated in countries around the world such as Bolivia, Mexico, Costa Rica, Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, Nicaragua, Kenya, Ethiopia, Thailand, Mongolia, etc., to then produce documentaries to help spread the word, creating a critical mass of case studies and argumentation with governments and communities in Latin America, SE Asia and Africa, that helped our lobbying efforts at the UN until the tide started to turn.

In Costa Rica for example, the country’s CVO, the IICA and my team published a review of the impact of animal welfare and animals in disaster policies adopted by the country had in the economy and prosperity of the farm animal sector. (Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture [IICA], 2016, Risk Management and Animal Care in Disasters: Increasing the Resilience of the Livestock Sector: the Costa Rican Experience. A. Diaz, S. Trelles, JC. Murillo).

With similar examples in other continents, the campaign slowly but surely built momentum towards its Sendai target.

I even took cattle ranchers from northern Mexico who had never left their hometown to the UN World Congress on disaster risk reduction in Geneva, to share their struggles and the solutions we made together against insidious droughts… Nothing beats best practices… and in case you are in doubt of the existence of these exceptional occurrences, just check the lonely houses in Hollywood that survived the recent fires unscathed!

This extensive and systematic process mobilized diverse teams of experts across various disciplines -veterinary science, biology, psychology, public policy and enforcement, communication, lobbying and advocacy, strategic campaigning, and fundraising- spanning four continents over more than a decade.

This relentless commitment led to invaluable collaborations with national governments and animal owners, creating a robust foundation for advancing Animal Welfare. Each case study required substantial resources paired with years of dedicated effort, which resulted in strong partnerships and compelling arguments that underscore the mutual benefits of prioritizing animal welfare for both animals and humanity.

We left no stone unturned, working hand in hand with national governments and global entities such as UNDRR, UNOCHA, FAO, WHO, IFRC, WB, and OIE, to redefine the future of animal welfare as not just a necessity but a shared victory for all.

REPUTATION:

Every lobbying effort at national and international levels was possible due to the previous pursuit of a professional reputation for our dedicated teams advocating for animals across the globe. With a proven record of countless rescue, relief, and rehabilitation campaigns following a myriad of disasters -both big & small, acute & chronic- we relentlessly helped animals in need. For over 50 years, the teams responded to hurricanes, tornadoes, flash floods, droughts, volcanic eruptions, and even war, ensuring that animals are rescued from peril. The risks our teams undertook in Afghanistan, Kosovo or Haiti, were not just calculated and mitigated through rigorous training & with the best safety protocols in the world; they were the essential sacrifices made to keep the plight of animals in disasters in the public eye. God knows the iconic photos of dramatic animal rescues in the most difficult circumstances, helped bring in donations to support the less dramatic but equally important work on policy and advocacy we used to balance!

EIGHT MILLION:

There is arguably, no better tool to win minds and hearts than preaching with example and showing best practices, and to accomplish that, our field teams proudly reached the eight million mark of animals aided during hundreds of disasters worldwide, developing logistical protocols and recommendations for the rehabilitation and reconstruction stages to follow.

THE UNSUNG HEROES:

The unsung heroes however, were our colleagues at Headquarters fighting the good fight of convincing the internal stakeholders that this was a just cause worth investing millions of dollars year in and year out, one that could dramatically -and positively- affect the ’normal’ lives of animals worldwide as well as their caretakers.

They needed to play nice with other NGOs and convince our audiences that animals caught in disasters were a bigger priority than the myriad of other important animal welfare issues claiming attention at an international organisation, and for that, our colleagues in the organisation needed to believe in the cause to be able to communicate it and fundraise it, placing a blind trust in a better future for animals and their caretakers alike.

Other experts, for example, developed a TV ad in Spanish and Creole with cartoon characters of families and their pet dogs discussing (...) how to write an Emergency Family Plan, the milestone of Preparedness, and which reached high ratings and was seen multiple times by hundreds of millions of people in Latin America and Haiti after the Port au Prince earthquake in 2010.

LOBBYING SENDAI:

2015 - 2030 - Once the global and regional platforms were covered, and through sustained lobbying efforts spanning nearly two extra years of running between Geneva and New York, the conditions were ready for the final pitch, which saw its pinnacle at the UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Sendai, Japan, where our documentaries were awarded prizes and farm animals were included as strategic assets worth protecting from disasters! Granted, the argumentation revolved around livelihood protection and food security, but a win is a win!

At that time, the celebration was somewhat of an anticlimactic moment, as we knew this was the end of the dirt road and the beginning of a paved road, a new springboard to help animals jump forward in the never-ending quest to protect animals from harm and pain everywhere.

Once the overarching UN milestone was obtained, we needed -but failed- to enrol everyone, as the steps on national policy and awareness were and are so daunting that they need the concerted efforts of every sector of society dealing with animals directly or indirectly. In hindsight, and to add insult to injury, despite our best deeds, our colleagues may have gotten exhausted by the long, sustained effort and thus failed to focus on finishing the job at hand.

REGRETS AFTER 60 YEARS?

2020 - Towards the end of our lifetime in professional animal welfare, we had started strategic engagement with the insurance and banking sectors to consider other risk transfer mechanisms, but, sadly, we ran out of time to consolidate these efforts and champion national-level policies everywhere, as well as the necessary change the attitudes to advance the job for farm animals, a Herculean task that may need another half a century indeed.

2025 - Although different and interesting alternatives are being explored, my biggest regret was the failure to pass similar wording for companion animals at the UN level.

WHAT’S NEXT:

After well over half a century’s worth of effort, the target seems now closer than it was half a century ago, but as the title of J. Walsh's book reads: "Time is short and the water rises"

Half a century ago, climate change was not even a trendy issue, but in the wake of new concerns this very year on the world’s climate variability, advocacy for animals in disasters is running out of time and thus needs the concerted efforts of many stakeholders, a trick that eluded us most of the time. One thing is sure: today time is not on the animal’s side.

The sooner this last phase starts, the better the proverbial glass of champagne is going to taste!

The best of luck!