Asia for Animals

Asia for Animals (AFA) is the largest, most representative Asian animal welfare conference.

This dynamic conference is a platform for animal welfare experts, members of the public and government officials to consolidate and share experiences, with an eye to developing new strategies and facilitating long-term change.

Since 2001, this biennial conference has each time welcomed over 200 delegates from all across the world. AFA has been held in Manila, Hong Kong, Chennai and Bali, and in both 2005 and 2010 ACRES was delighted to host AFA here in Singapore.

AFA 2011 will be held in Chengdu, China, and in 2013 ACRES will once again be hosting AFA in Singapore.

For more information about the Asia for Animals conference go to www.asiaforanimals.org

Read Press Releases for AFA Singapore 2005 and AFA Singapore 2010 here.

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Asia for Animals Conference 2010: Achieving Long-Term Positive Change

It spanned four days, packed with informative presentations and interactive workshops on a whole host of animal protection topics, followed by a day of post-conference tours to local animal rescue centres and nature reserves.

It was attended by advocates for animals from all walks of life and all corners of the world, from 26 different countries and over 200 different animal protection organisations, as well as government officials, professors, and scores of Singaporeans wanting to find out more about getting involved with the animal protection movement and helping to make a better world for animals.

Asia for Animals 2010, hosted by ACRES, was the largest ever gathering of animal protection advocates in Asia.

A spectacular lion dance kicked off the opening ceremony of the conference, which was graced by Guest-Of-Honour Mr Seah Kian Peng, Member of Parliament for Marine Parade GRC.

Over the four days of the conference we were treated to informative, inspiring presentations and workshops by some of the movers and shakers in the animal protection field, on topics including humane education, improving the welfare of animals in captivity, providing optimal veterinary care, achieving long-term changes for farm animals, effective stray animals management, wiping out the wildlife trade, campaigning for change, working with government agencies, resolving human-macaque conflicts and working with volunteers.

All presentations were on the theme of achieving long-term positive change and moving the animal protection movement forward.

A fun-filled Gala Dinner, with mouth-watering vegan food, brought the conference to a close all too soon, during which there was a special award presentation to Kartick Satyanarayan and Geeta Seshimani from Indian NGO Wildlife SOS, for their amazing achievement in removing the last dancing bear from India’s streets in 2009 and successfully putting an end to the bear dancing industry in India.

ACRES was delighted to host Asia For Animals 2010, and we are confident that the conference served a vital role in moving the animal protection movement in Asia a huge step forward, both through the sharing of knowledge, and also the formation of new collaborations and friendships among fellow animal protection advocates and organisations.

We were also thrilled for the opportunity to share the work of the ACRES Wildlife Rescue Centre (AWRC) with so many international delegates when they visited the centre on the post-conference tours.