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International Cat Care was delighted to award Ian MacFarlaine with its Cat Animal Welfare Award for 2019 during the Ceva Animal Welfare Awards event in Birmingham on April 3rd. The Awards recognise the charity teams, charity vets and staff, volunteers and individuals who do so much to improve animal welfare.
The International Cat Care award recognises someone who has made a real difference to cat welfare; Ian has volunteered or worked in animal welfare for 30 years (including previously two years with International Cat Care) and continues to strive to improve quality of life for unowned cats through TNR, improving homing practices or working with authorities and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to bring a collaborative approach to improved cat welfare.
Claire Bessant, Chief Executive of International Cat Care said, ‘Ian’s enthusiasm to learn and to teach others remains undaunted by the size of the task, and his professionalism and knowledgeable approach is credible and practical in the many different situations in which he has worked, from well-off charities to small struggling NGOs. Congratulations to Ian and thank you from the cats you have helped directly or indirectly over the years and will continue to help for some time to come.’
Ian is a qualified veterinary nurse and has wide experience in animal welfare, from running shelters to training, inspectorate, neutering manager, animal welfare officer, community engagement, population management, TNR training, project management, dealing with hoarding cases, supporting local groups and building relationships with multiple stakeholders, including government ministries. He has contributed to conferences, workshops and training of students where his dry wit and humour make his lectures memorable.
Over the years he has worked with major charities both in and outside the UK including Cats Protection, Mayhew, Wood Green and PDSA and has established a joint municipal/NGO cat neutering facility in Portugal, and undertaken projects in the Sudan, Lithuania, Ireland, Tanzania and India.
Ian is currently working in Bermuda, but before that he made major changes at the animal centre at the Malta SPCA which was suffering increasing poor rehoming rates – cat homing increased more that 100% under his management.
Ian could not attend the Award Ceremony in person but received his Award from Claire Bessant, during a visit to the UK shortly before.