key words: Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania

May 2011

EU/SANCO
Conference in the Baltic to discuss ways to achieve goal of responsible pet
ownership

The Commission will present ideas on how to consider the welfare of pets in
its future Animal Welfare Strategy (2011-2015), during a conference on
animal welfare in the Baltic Region. The conference, the first of its kind
in the region, is to take place on May 4 in Vilnius, Lithuania. It is
organised by the Lithuanian Ministry of Agriculture, the Lithuanian
Parliament, the Federation of Veterinarians of Europe (FVE), the
organisation Vier Pfoten and the Instituto G. Caporale/Teramo with the
Commission's support. The event will focus on responsible ownership of
companion animals in the Baltic.

Representatives of national authorities in the region, professional
organisations, NGOs for animal protection, representatives of the European
institutions and other stakeholders will attend the event. The participants
are committed to take forward the idea of responsible ownership,
disseminated last year through the CAROdog project and other similar
initiatives. CAROdog is a website which offers tools for political
strategies and concrete projects to build up a European wide culture of
responsible dog ownership.

The Commission's options to consider the welfare of companion animals in its
future Animal Welfare Strategy represent the answer to a call made by the EU
Council in November 2010.

The conference represents an opportunity for the Commission and its partners
to build up a European wide culture of responsible pet ownership.
For more information please visit:

http://ec.europa.eu/food/animal/welfare/seminars/index_en.htm