As you are reading this issue of the FCI Newsletter, the summer dog-show season
is at its peak. The biggest event - a feast for all eager exhibitors – of this year
was the FCI World Dog Show 2012 in Salzburg, Austria.
I would like to congratulate the Austrian kennel Club (ÖKV) and everybody who contributed
to this outstanding canine event.
This issue contains a report and evaluation of this show. I would like to point
out that unfortunately, abandoned dogs in closed vehicles at shows are a remaining
issue. The speakers continually encouraged people to come to their vehicles and
take their dogs out, even announcing particular license plate numbers of these vehicles,
asking the owners to release their dogs immediately from the heat. Despite the joint
effort of the police and paramedics, there was one dog who, sadly, didn‘t make it.Unfortunately,
this has been a recurring scenario, even at the most prestigous shows. I am asking
everybody to keep an eye on this problem and to look for ways to deal with it. Dogs
hardly deserve to be treated like that.
Read more
Stefan Stefik
FCI Treasurer
FCI-NCO Joint Communication Forum in a nutshell : Main points from the last meeting
held on May 17th, 2012 in Salzburg (AT)
Participants :
- Rafael de Santiago (PR)
- Ioanna Galanos (GR – Delegate of the European Section)
- Yossi Guy (IL)
- Imre Horvath (FR)
- Gerard Jipping (NL)
- Hiroshi Kamisato (JP)
- Annika Klang (SE)
- Marie Luna Durán (FCI)
- Miguel-Ángel Martínez (AR)
- Petru Muntean (RO)
- Paul Peeters (NL)
- Stefan Stefik (SK)
- Roberto Vélez-Picó (Delegate of the Americas and the Caribbean Section)
Invited :
- Brenda Bonnett (Consultant)
Excused :
- The delegates of the Africa Section, Norway, Germany, Russia, Hungary, the Asia
and the Pacific Section, Slovakia, Finland and Austria could not attend, being on
duty for the WDS or because of other professional obligations.
The third meeting of the FCI-NCO Joint Communication Forum (JCF) was the first to
benefit from the presence of the delegates from the European and The Americas and
the Caribbean FCI sections, respectively Mrs Galanos and Mr Vélez Picó. Some of
the members of the FCI General Committee were also present: Rafael De Santiago (Vice-president),
Gerard Jipping, Miguel-Ángel Martínez and Stefan Stefik (Treasurer). The “usual”
participants were very honoured to be joined by the most welcome newcomers. The
presence of the latter indubitably evidenced the growing interest in the activities
of the JCF, its more and more international composition and the bigger and bigger
support it has gained over the first months of its young existence (the first meeting
was held in Paris, on July 7th, 2011).
The first point on the agenda was Bad press. The participants approved a
procedure to publish official joint reactions to the negative press/to negative
statements regarding the FCI and/or its members.
One good example of negative statements which can be read about the FCI and/or its
members is the petition circulated on the internet about the European Dog Show 2012
to be held in October in Bucharest (RO).
Gerard Jipping then introduced Brenda Bonnett, who took the floor to present a project
where the JCF might play an important role: the building of a platform to share
information and resources about dogs in general. Priority topics were identified
and G. Jipping encouraged the participants to send content for this platform.
The next point on the agenda was Education/popularisation. The group agreed
to go on working on topics like Banned/dangerous breeds by collecting material about
the situation in the member countries, what countries have good practices to share
in this field, how did some countries succeed in preventing banning laws ?
Then the participants had a discussion about the next point on the agenda: Health
and welfare. They, again, agreed on working further on the setting up of
a registry of surveys, initiatives, training programmes, scientific research, theses
etc. regarding dog health and welfare.
The last point on the agenda was Best practices. The participants could follow
two PowertPoint presentations, about national dog days:
- Paul Peeters, Dutch Kennel Club, about the Dutch KC initiative;
- Kaija Unhola, Finnish Kennel Club (excused; Annika Klang informed about the Finnish
KC initiative).
After interesting and fruitful discussions in a friendly atmosphere, the meeting
was closed by fixing the next one in Budapest, before the World Dog Show in May
2013.
Marie Luna Durán
FCI Marketing and Public Relations Manager