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Happy Animal Health Week! Veterinary Teams Across Canada Unite to Highlight Habitat Protection and Pandemic Prevention!
September 29, 2022
This month, we celebrate Animal Health Week from October 2 to 8, 2022. The Canadian Veterinary Medical
Association (CVMA) is highlighting the importance of safe-guarding One Health through our campaign slogan, Habitat Protection and Pandemic Prevention.
This year’s theme is an opportunity to raise awareness about how the disruption of animal habitats in various forms, from forests to farms, can impact ecosystem health and affect global human health. We hope to encourage the understanding that continuous human invasion into what were once remote regions
exposes us to previously isolated viruses, parasites, and bacteria. The most recent global public health and economic devastation, COVID-19, greatly exemplifies the notion of minimizing the risk or another zoonotic pandemic.
This campaign will help empower the national veterinary community through awareness, recognition, and knowledge of threats, in turn, improving public health and animal welfare.
This Animal Health Week emphasizes that:
• Protecting the habitats of animals helps protect shared ecosystems and, in turn, helps safeguard human health.
• Respecting animals in their natural environments helps deter the spread of disease to other animal species and humans.
• Importation of exotic animals, and even improper movement of domestic animals, can introduce disease to local animals and people.
• Encroaching upon wildlife habitats or entering commercial/farmed operations without following proper protocols can result in biosecurity breaches that can lead to outcomes dangerous to animals and people.
• Protecting the environments of wildlife and all animals in your care is paramount in pandemic prevention.
• Monitoring disease in wildlife, such as migrating birds, bats, and feral animals like pigs and dogs, can play an important role in future pandemic prevention.
Social media
The CVMA has promoted Animal Health Week for 37 years. We invite you to share your celebrations on Facebook (facebook.com/CanadianVeterinaryMedicalAssociation), Twitter (@CanVetMedAssoc), and Instagram (@cvma.acmv) using the hashtag #AnimalHealthWeek. Please also tag us in your social media posts to be featured in our social media promotions. The CVMA would be unable to host this important educational campaign without the generous support of our sponsors and the dedication of veterinary teams throughout the country.
Thank you.
2022 Animal Health Week Sponsors
We extend our sincere appreciation to the 2022 Animal Health
Week Program Sponsors, iFinance Canada (Petcard) and Petsecure.
