RABDF Princess Royal Award
Christianne receiving her award.
Christianne, who currently is chief veterinary officer for the Welsh Assembly Government, has spent her career spanning more than 30 years dedicated to improving the health and welfare of livestock. Latterly, she has become involved in devising and implementing TB control and eradication measures after working as a veterinary officer for Animal Health in the Gloucester division, where she dealt with large scale herd TB breakdowns following FMD in 2001.
“There I saw first hand the devastating effect this disease can have not only on farm businesses, but also on farming families,” she explained. “As chief veterinary officer for Wales I have responsibility for developing policy aimed at raising standards of animal health and welfare in Wales. When I took up the post in 2005, I recognised the significant challenge of TB in the Welsh cattle herd. I was determined simply to be a vet when it came to tackling this issue, applying the basic principles of infectious disease control.
“Since then, I’ve applied my knowledge and experience of population medicine, working in close conjunction with specialists in all relevant scientific fields,” said Christianne. “Within Wales, we are building a comprehensive TB eradication strategy. This is a collaborative effort that depends on honest appraisal of the facts, and full co-operation across all those affected by and involved in the problem - farmers, vets, auctioneers, local authorities and policy makers.” She added: “TB eradication is an ambitious objective, but it has been achieved in Australia, and the New Zealand programme is making excellent progress. I’m confident that we can beat this crippling disease here if we work together, bear down hard on infection, apply all the lessons learned already and embrace new technologies as they become available. This is a battle we have to win.”
RABDF chairman, David Cotton commented: “Christianne has not only made a huge contribution to the industry, but has also been extremely willing as a veterinary surgeon to take a proactive approach towards solving the massive problem of bovine TB in the UK dairy herd. The award recognises her continued drive, enthusiasm and determination in the face of strong opposition, to move the issue forward and help the long term health and welfare of British livestock.”
With Strangles Awareness Week just around the corner (5-11 May), vets are being encouraged to share a survey about the disease with their horse-owning clients.
