UBC Animal Welfare Program

Over 100 attendees joined UBC AWP for the 2026 Canine Science Conference in Vancouver!

Researchers and practitioners from eight countries shared insights on dog welfare, behaviour, health, evolution, and human–dog relationships. The conference also featured a special public event celebrating the Coast Salish Woolly Dog through storytelling, film, and discussion with authors, knowledge holders, and researchers. Thank you to all of the speakers, panelists, volunteers, and attendees who made this event possible!

Read more about the 2026 CSC here: https://awp.landfood.ubc.ca/2026/06/14/ubc-awp-hosts-the-2026-canine-science-conference/

Join the Canine Science Society and the UBC AWP at a special event, "The Woolly Dog: An Evening of Story, Film, and Coast Salish Knowledge," to explore the history, science, and cultural significance of the Coast Salish Woolly Dog.

As part of the 2026 Canine Science Conference, taking place at UBC Robson Square, this evening event includes an author and book presentation, documentary screening, and panel discussion.

🗓️ Thursday, June 4th, 2026 @ 7:00-9:00 pm (PT)
📍 UBC Robson Square, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
🎟️ Tickets available for purchase (non-conference attendees) here: https://www.caninesciencesociety.org/event-details/the-woolly-dog-an-evening-of-story-film-and-coast-salish-knowledge

Recently, David Fraser met with Barry Hughes in Edinburgh, where they had been colleagues in the early 1970s. At that time, Barry was starting a distinguished career doing some of the earliest research on the welfare of poultry. His first work demonstrated nutrient-specific appetites in chickens and proposed the use of preference-testing as a method to identify better alternatives in animal housing.

New research from the Animal Welfare Program at UBC explores: Automatic milking systems (AMS) - how much freedom do cows have to choose when they are milked?
In this invited review article published in the Journal of Dairy Science, post doctoral researcher Sarah Kappel and colleagues from the UBC Animal Welfare Program explore cows’ opportunity for agency in AMS. The review highlights that “voluntary” milking still requires cows to be milked at regular intervals, typically incentivized through rewards such as feed. How much control cows have over the milking process is further limited by the factors associated with system design and individual characteristics of the cow.
Read the full paper here: https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2025-27863

AWP Postdoctoral Fellow (PhD '25) Lexis Ly won the 2025 Faculty of Land and Food Systems Top Dissertation Award for her work "Investigating owner relinquishment to animal shelters through data practices, self-rehoming outcomes, and community surrender pathways."
Congratulations, Lexis!