We are very excited! Our pilot animal welfare training project at Qatar's central animal market is entering its second round. At the beginning of February, we trained security guards to become animal welfare officers. Now we are back on site for our second training session.
The aim of the project is to train the market's security guards in animal welfare so that they can better monitor what is happening at the market and take targeted action in the event of animal welfare problems. On our second visit this year, we can already see improvements - drinking troughs are filled with water, for example, and there are now two sick boxes for animals requiring veterinary care. The new Animal Welfare Officers who attended the first training course are still motivated - they have even set up a WhatsApp group to keep up to date with animal welfare issues at the market.
These are the first, most important steps, and we understand that their new role as animal welfare officers is not an easy one - it takes a lot of patience and persuasion to change traders and animal keepers from their old habits and traditions to new, more animal-friendly methods.
After the successful theoretical and practical part of our second training session, we put up animal welfare posters in the market to raise awareness of animal welfare among traders and market users. We are very pleased with the level of participation and commitment shown by the new 'animal welfare officers'. We would also like to thank the Ministry of Physical Planning and the market operator Aswaq for their successful cooperation and support of this project. We look forward to the next steps together!
