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International Cat Care gave out its annual Cat Welfare Award to Harry Eckman of Changes
for Animals at the Ceva Welfare Awards on April 6, 2016, at the Burlington Hotel in
Birmingham.
International Cat Care first met Harry when he volunteered to help train delegates on its trap,
neuter and return (TNR) workshops in Portugal. Harry provided practical training and
facilitation support on the cat welfare management for vets, nurses and animal welfare
professionals. His expertise ranged from strategic planning and government liaison, to
teaching the patience and techniques required to trap cats!
After years of gaining experience working with many different welfare organisations, Harry
co-founded Change for Animals Foundation in 2011. The charity’s areas of work include
humane companion animal management in Portugal, dog meat trades in SE Asia, wildlife in
captivity, small NGO capacity development and support, lobbying of governments for
sustainable legislative change and public policy enforcement, and welfare improvement. He
also undertakes research and analysis to support best practice standards in monitoring and
evaluation of projects.
Harry’s work in Portugal has contributed to changes in legislation, collaboration across
organisations and improvements in welfare. Groundbreaking approaches have redefined how
projects should be implemented.
Harry comments, ‘As someone who works on both dog and cat population management
projects, I am pleased that there is a shift in cat welfare towards a more comprehensive
approach including education, community engagement, responsible ownership and lobbying
for legislation and enforcement. Achieving a comprehensive approach to cats has been
difficult – funding for dog projects is easier to get because dogs are seen alongside the need
to address rabies or other zoonotic diseases. Dogs are also more directly and obviously
linked to people, and solving problems caused by dogs is always going to have a greater
urgency. People seem to “get” dog welfare more’.
‘As someone who wears both dog and cat hats, I think cats have always been the poor
relation and this has been detrimental to the advancement of companion animal welfare
generally. The shift towards a more comprehensive approach in cat welfare, in which I am
playing a small part, is something I am pleased to have achieved.’
Claire Bessant, Chief Executive of International Cat Care handed over the award and
comments, ‘Harry has an experienced, practical and compassionate approach to improving
animal welfare and has championed cats and invested in a strategic approach to undertake
and monitor projects, sharing information so that we can all learn from them.
Congratulations Harry’.
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