|
The 2008 Conference has been a great success.
A full report on the conference and photos will be posted soon.
Download Conference Booklet in PDF (575kb)
The Nineteenth NZ Companion Animal Conference – 2008
Theme: THE CONNECTION – Humans and Animals
Monday 15th and Tuesday 16th September 2008
At the Copthorne Hotel & Resort, Solway Park, Masterton, Wairarapa, NZ
Since its inception in 1990 the annual New Zealand Companion Animal Conference has become the country’s most important animal welfare gathering attracting inspiring and informative speakers from around the world, together with our own home-grown specialists. Staged by the New Zealand Companion Animal Council, the 2008 Conference promises to maintain its high standard of presentation, which inspires so many participants each year.
The exciting theme of this conference explores the connection between humans and animals, their ancient origins, the modern links, the associated benefits and pitfalls of the relationship, and the manner in which animals enrich our lives.
This is your invitation to join us in the beautiful Wairarapa Region of New Zealand’s North Island to enjoy and be stimulated by the primary New Zealand event for animals.
MONDAY, 15 SEPTEMBER 2008
12.30pm
Arrivals and Registrations – Mabel Dung, Farmer / hostess
1.00pm
Welcome, introductions and apologies
Includes the traditional round table greetings from the delegates and meet the speakers.
Facilitator: Bob Kerridge, Chairman NZCAC
1.20pm
Official Opening
The opening will commence with a Karakia followed by the opening address from Gary Daniels, Mayor of Masterton.
1.30pm
The New Zealand Companion Animal Council
An overview of the past year of activities of the Council.
Speaker: Bob Kerridge, Chairman NZCAC
1.45pm
The New Zealand Companion Animal Register
A report on the launch and the first year of business for the country’s first independent microchip register. Speakers: Nygllhuw (Nigel) Morris, NZCAR
2.00pm
The Human / Animal Bond
An inspiring audio visual presentation of the origins of the bond, the birth of the animal welfare movement, the passion that exists between the species, and how it is harnessed to our benefit.
Presented by: Bob Kerridge, CEO, SPCA Auckland
2.30pm
Afternoon Tea
3.00pm
Animals in our Community (Panel Session)
A close encounter with the people and animals who dedicate their time and talent to be of service to humans. Session will include presentations, demonstrations and open forum with the following:
Blind Guide Dogs – Simon Higgs
Hearing Dogs – Clare McLaughlin &Natalie Denton
Riding for the Disabled – Colleen Wright
Urban Search and Rescue – Janelle Mackie
MAF Biosecurity Detector Dogs - Ruth Bennett
Outreach Therapy Pets – Robert Bruce & Joanne Hurford
Mobility Dogs – Bradley Marks
Epilepsy Assist Dogs – Andrea Hawkless
5.30pm
Close and Preview
7.00pm
Awards Dinner (by pre-registration only)
Dinner will be staged in the idyllic setting of Lansdowne House (15 Keir Crescent, Masterton) and will include an amusing after dinner delivery from Roy Farnman, who will share memories of his days spent with author James Herriot, together with other hilarious veterinary anecdotes. The evening will conclude with the presentation of the 2008 NZCAC Assisi Awards.
TUESDAY, 16 SEPTEMBER 2008
8.30am
Registrations
8.45am
Getting to know you, again – the delegates
9.00am
Indigenous peoples – where the bond began
A moving journey through time to ancient tribal communities recapturing their unique relationship and spiritual connection with animals.
1) Native American Indians – The music and writings of these ancient people – an inspiring audio-visual experience. Presented by: Bob Kerridge
2) Maori Cultures (9.15am) – The intermingling of animals in the lives of our early indigenous settlers in Aotearoa. traditional presentation by: Henare Te Karu – Te Iwi Kainga.
3) The Australian Aboriginal Story (9.30am) – Keynote speaker. The dingo has had a significant spiritual status and social standing with the Aboriginal people for over 5,000 years. The European dog rapidly displaced the dingo in Aboriginal tribal life, and in today’s communities it has created as many problems as it has pleasures.
Presented by: Dr Honey Nelson, Alice Springs, Central Australia.
10.30am
Morning Tea
11.00am
There’s a welfarist in our midst!
The life and times of a local legend. How working through animals can affect a community at all levels and how animal abuse can uncover societal abuse.
Presented by: Val Ball and friends.
11.30am
Open forum and discussion session
11.45am
Problem behaviours and the human / animal bond – Keynote speaker
In selecting animals to share their lives with humans, we place the demand on them that they adjust their heritage from living in nature to live with us. In this segment we consider some of the behavioural problems that can occur as a result of that adjustment, and in understanding them how we can resolve these problems.
Presented by: Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Benjamin L Hart, California, USA
12.45pm
Open forum and discussion session
1.00pm
Lunch
2.00pm
Human / Animal interactions – our enrichment – Keynote speaker
The positive benefits of our interrelationship with animals, what they can teach us, and how as humans we respond to their presence, adjust to their needs, and improve our well-being through their natural therapeutic abilities.
Presented by: Professor Lynette Hart, California, USA
3.00pm
Afternoon tea
3.30pm
How to make friends with fish – Keynote speaker
What is it about fish that mesmerises us, reduces our stress levels, and can even calm hyperactive children, all in the confines of our own home? Why is it that feng shui masters advocate aquariums in every home?
So what’s so special about fish? The ‘fish vet explains
Presented by : Dr Richmond Loh – Perth, Western Australia.
4.15pm
Do animals really like us? – Keynote speaker
There is a great presumption on our part that animals enjoy being our companions … but do they? As a fitting climax to the conference our stalwart presenter Kevin Stafford shares his often serious, sometimes irreverent, always amusing thoughts with us.
Presented by: Professor Kevin Stafford, Palmerston North, New Zealand
5.00pm
The last word
Final thoughts from our participating keynote speakers in open forum.
5.30pm
Presentations, Closing and 2009 Conference
Bob Kerridge, Facilitator
5.45pm
Cocktails
back to top
PROFILES OF SPEAKERS (in order of appearance)
MABLE DUNG, Dip. Agro (Farmer / hostess)
Hugo Dung and his wife Priscilla had four daughters, none of whom ever married (which is surprising even if only to change their name). All worked on their sixteen hectare farm in heartland Wairarapa, with Mabel, the youngest, focussing on tending to the six prolific vines that annually produced a goodly quantity of grapes and fine wine for local consumption.
Ever since she won the beauty pageant in neighbouring Kopuaranga thirty-two years ago, Mabel has been in demand to appear at major functions in the area.
We welcome her in her role as our farming hostess for this conference where she will be accompanied by her pet possum Annabel.
BOB KERRIDGE, MNZM, KSt.J, JP, BAppAnTech, AFNZIM – Facilitator
Bob is the Chief Executive of the SPCA Auckland and is a well known and respected advocate for animals. Author of the book “Talking for the Animals”, subject of the biography ‘Father and Son’, broadcaster and columnist with the NZ Woman’s Weekly, he also established the Companion Animal Workshop in 1990 from which the New Zealand Companion Animal Council (which he currently chairs) was born.
Bob is also a Director of WSPA New Zealand, a National Councillor with the RNZSPCA, a Knight of the Order of St John, a Justice of the Peace, and was awarded an Honorary Bachelor of Applied Animal Technology by Unitec (2006) and Toastmaster’s Communicator of the Year (2007). He is a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to animal welfare.
Bob’s animal companions include the infamous Merlin (Yorkshire terrier).
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:
DR HONEY NELSON (TBA)
Honey was born in New Zealand and moved to Australia 33 years ago where her two children, now living in Canberra, were born. Working first as an art teacher and commercial artist she studied to become a vet whilst her children were young.
Following some time practising in a country clinic in NSW she eventually moved to ACT where she joined the RSPCA to establish a new vet clinic, leading to some visits to Aboriginal communities on dog health problems. From there she moved to Broken Hill to manage the RSPCA clinic and it was there she developed a love of the ‘red desert life’.
An invitation to work in the Arnhem Land Yolngu communities coincided with her decision to move to Alice Springs, Central Australia, to develop her work in desert Aboriginal communities.
She has a deep affection of the Aboriginal cultures and people and their historic appreciation of dogs.
BENJAMIN L HART, DVM, PhD, DACVB, Distinguished Professor Emeritus
Ben Hart has always taken a passionate interest in animal behaviour which has had an immense effect on his life’s work. When he entered veterinary school in the mid 1950s he noticed that animal behaviour was conspicuously absent from both teaching and practice within the veterinary medicine and, after becoming a faculty member at UC Davis, he developed the first full teaching programme in animal behaviour which he led until his retirement as Distinguished Professor Emeritus in 2003.
His extensive work has also included an ongoing field research programmes with his wife Lynette in Africa and India studying the behaviour of antelope, bison, Asian rhinos and elephants, the latter animal providing some unique insights into animal cognition.
His published and co-authored works exceed 184, his current academic position being the Director of Companion Animal Behaviour Programme with the School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis.
LYNETTE HART, MA, PhD, Professor, School of Veterinary Medicine
Lynette Hart studied animal communication during her doctoral studies at
Rutgers University. With the development of the new field of human-animal
Interactions in the 1980’s she used methods from animal behaviour to study
the relationships of humans with animals.
As founding director of the Centre for Animals in Society at the University of
California, Davis, she developed a new course : ‘Human-Animal Interactions –
Benefits and Issues’. Her studies have dealt with the socializing effects of
animals for people with disabilities, and also include the grieving process
associated with the death of an animal. In this latter field the University
assumed a leading role within the veterinary profession in
establishing a pet loss hot line in which veterinary students provided comfort to grieving pet carers whilst gaining valuable experiences.
In field work collaborations with her graduate students and her husband,
Benjamin Hart, she continues her interest in basic animal behaviour with
studies of communication and social behaviour in a wide variety of animals.
DR RICHMOND LOH, BSc, BVMS, MPhil, MACVSc, CMAVA, Dip PM
Generally known as ‘The Fish Vet’, Richmond grew up keeping fish. He completed his Bachelors Degrees and Master of Philosophy in Veterinary Pathology at Murdoch University, and has achieved Membership to the Aquatic Animal Health Chapter of the Australian College of Veterinary Scientists and is a Chartered Member of the Australian Veterinary Association.
Based in Perth, Western Australia, he provides veterinary consultation through the Perth Aquarium and Display Centre in Western Australia and undertakes monthly trips to Boronia Aquarium, his base in Victoria.
He has presented numerous papers to the National Veterinary Conferences and to the Pet Industry Australia Association (PIAA) delegates at the Pet Expo that was held in Sydney recently. He writes regularly for aquarium and pet publications including the Australian Aquarium Magazine, Your Pet Magazine, Petalia and Pet Directory.
PROFESSOR KEVIN STAFFORD, FRCVSc, MACVSc
Kevin Stafford is an Irish veterinary graduate. He spent 12 years working in the ‘third world’ before coming to New Zealand in 1990 to teach sheep health and production at Massey University. He took over the teaching of animal behaviour in 1992 and has continued to teach this and animal welfare to veterinary nursing and agricultural students since that time.
He has supervised a large number of graduate students and undertaken research into health, behaviour and welfare of a wide range of animal species.
He founded the animal welfare chapter of the Australian College of Veterinary Scientists, and was awarded a Fellowship of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons for his special research into pain in cattle. Kevin has authored many papers and publications and his book ‘The Welfare of Dogs’ was published in 2006.
Kevin breeds Irish Water Spaniels and Chinchilla cats.
OUR THANKS ALSO TO OUR OTHER PRESENTERS
HENARE TE KARU, Dip SW, MANZASW (TBC)
NIGEL and JULIE MORRIS
SIMON HIGGS
CLARE McLAUCHLAN & NATALIE DENTON
COLLEEN WRIGHT
JANELLE MACKIE
ROBERT BRUCE & JOANNE HURFORD
BRADLEY MARKS
ANDREA HAWKLESS
KIRSTY ANSELL
VAL BALL, MNZM
and our after dinner speaker
ROY FARNMAN
back to top
CONFERENCE DETAILS
(Note all prices quoted are per person and include GST)
Conference Venue
Copthorne Hotel and Resort, Solway Park
High Street, Masterton 5810, New Zealand
PO Box 453, Masterton 5840
Toll Free: 0800 808-228
Phone: 0064 6 370-0500
Fax: 0064 6 370-0501
Email:
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Website: www.solway.co.nz
Please quote Conference # 65189 when booking.
Conference room rate: $ 125.00
Neighbouring Hotels
BK’s Chardonnay Motor Lodge
274 High Street, Solway, Masterton 5810
Toll Free: 0800 222-8808
Phone: 0064 6 377-7485
Fax: 0064 6 377-7482
Email:
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Website: www.bkschardonnay.co.nz
18 units from $100 to $150 per night
Best Western, Masterton Motor Lodge
250 High Street, Masterton 5810
Toll Free: 0508 644-644
Phone: 0064 6 378-2585
Fax: 0064 6 378-2587
Email:
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Website: www.masterton-motorlodge.co.nz
21 units from $ 100 per night
Travelling options to Masterton
From Auckland: Air to Palmerston North, drive to Masterton.
From Wellington: Train, bus or drive to Masterton. (Please check timetables)
Exhibition Space
This is available for the full two day conference – approximately 3.0m x 3.0m space includes only tables.
Space Charge $250
Conference Registration Fees
Registration for the two day conference includes refreshments during the conference.
Members $140
Non Members $160
Students $40
Awards Dinner
(Sponsored by Mahurangi Technical Institute)
Please note this requires separate registration.
Members $105
Non Members $130
Venue and Transport – Lansdowne House, 15 Keir Crescent, Masterton - (Bus transport will be provided to and from the conference venue)
NZCAC Membership Discounts
Those registering may enjoy membership discounts by joining the NZCAC at this stage of registration. Please add the appropriate joining fee to this application:
Individual Member $25
Organisation Membership $50
Student or Senior $15
Students
Please attach a copy of your Student ID number to the registration form.
Please complete and send your registration card by Monday, 8th September 2008 to guarantee your registration, to:
NZ Companion Animal Council
19th NZCAC Conference
PO Box 43221, Mangere, Manukau 2153
(Please include your method of payment with your registration)
Additional agendas and registration forms are available from:
Bob Kerridge
Telephone: 0064 9 256-7300
Fax: 0064 9 256-7314
Email:
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
back to top
|
