Founded | 1942 |
---|---|
Founder | WR Wooldridge CBE, FRCVS |
Dissolved | 31 July 2020 [1] |
Type | Charitable organisation |
Focus | |
Location |
|
Area served | Veterinary medicine |
Key people |
|
Website | Former landing page |
The Animal Health Trust (AHT) was a large national independent charity in the United Kingdom, employing 200 scientists, veterinarians and support workers. Its objectives were to study and cure diseases in pets (horses, dogs and cats), and research and postgraduate education in veterinary medicine. It was founded in 1942 [4] by WR Wooldridge, and was awarded a Royal Charter on 29 July 1963. Elizabeth II was the charity's patron from 1959 [5] until the end of 2016, [6] and the Princess Royal was its president. Based in Newmarket in Suffolk, it was a registered charity under English law [7] and received no government funding. Following fundraising issues exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the charity entered liquidation on 31 July 2020. [1]
Research of the AHT was in two main areas: inherited disease and infectious disease. Inherited disease research includes genetics, oncology and stem cell research. Infectious disease includes bacteriology, virology, immunology and equine epidemiology and disease surveillance. [8] Its clinics ran active internship and residency training programs for postgraduate education and training. The AHT published research and clinical findings in journals such as Nature, [9] and it also had its own open-access library.
AHT had two clinical centres: the Centre for Small Animal Studies and Centre for Equine Studies. [10] [11] Both clinics offered diagnostic laboratories and DNA testing services and conducted research. [11]
The AHT was founded in 1946 as the Veterinary Education Trust by Walter Reginald Wooldridge; it was renamed the "Animal Health Trust" in 1948. [12] One of its first major donors was Annie Henrietta Yule, co-owner of Hanstead Stud, who offered the Trust the use of her Newmarket stable, Balaton Lodge. [13] The Trust operated from there until 1999.
Following fundraising difficulties and issues aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Animal Health Trust entered liquidation on 31 July 2020 with an auction for medical equipment in August 2020. [14] [15] The medical site of the AHT went on auction for £7.85 million, and it is reported 250 staff were affected at the time. [16]
Newmarket is a market town and civil parish in the West Suffolk district of Suffolk, England, 14 miles west of Bury St Edmunds and 14 miles northeast of Cambridge. In 2021, it had a population of 16,772. It is a global centre for thoroughbred horse racing, racehorse training, breeding, and horse health. Two Classic races and three British Champions Series races are held at Newmarket every year. The town has had close royal connections since the time of James I, who built a palace there, and was also a base for Charles I, Charles II, and most monarchs since. Elizabeth II visited the town often to see her horses in training.
Glanders is a contagious zoonotic infectious disease that occurs primarily in horses, mules, and donkeys. It can be contracted by other animals, such as dogs, cats, pigs, goats, and humans. It is caused by infection with the bacterium Burkholderia mallei.
The Royal Veterinary College is a veterinary school located in London and a member institution of the federal University of London. The RVC was founded in 1791 and joined the University of London in 1949. It is the oldest and largest Veterinary school in the United Kingdom, and one of only 11 in the country where students can study to become a vet.
The New York State College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University is a statutory college of veterinary medicine at Cornell University, in Ithaca, New York. Founded in 1894, it is the first statutory college of the State University of New York (SUNY) system.
The Pirbright Institute is a research institute in Surrey, England, dedicated to the study of infectious diseases of farm animals. It forms part of the UK government's Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). The institute employs scientists, vets, PhD students, and operations staff.
The Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA) is a United Kingdom based charity founded in 1969 focused on providing therapeutic horse-riding, equestrian vaulting and carriage driving lessons to people with developmental and physical disabilities as well seeking to improve the lives of those with mental health difficulties. Princess Anne has been the organisation's President since 1985.
Equine influenza is the disease caused by strains of influenza A that are enzootic in horse species. Equine influenza occurs globally, previously caused by two main strains of virus: equine-1 (H7N7) and equine-2 (H3N8). The World Organisation for Animal Health now considers H7N7 strains likely to be extinct since these strains have not been isolated for over 20 years. Predominant international circulating H3N8 strains are Florida sublineage of the American lineage; clade 1 predominates in the Americas and clade 2 in Europe.. The disease has a nearly 100% infection rate in an unvaccinated horse population with no prior exposure to the virus.
Emeritus Professor Reuben Johnston Rose is an Australian veterinary educator and a former Dean of the Faculty of Veterinary Science at the University of Sydney.
The University of Liverpool School of Veterinary Science was the first veterinary school in the United Kingdom to be incorporated into a university. The school's teaching, treatment and research facilities are on the main campus and at Leahurst on the Wirral Peninsula, approximately 12 miles outside Liverpool.
The Horse Trust is an equine charity in the United Kingdom, based at Speen near Princes Risborough in Buckinghamshire. It was founded in 1886 and is the oldest equine charity in the world. It was set up to help the working horses in London. Upon the decline of the working horse in the 1960s it widened its remit to include education and research, becoming the largest provider of equine welfare grants in the United Kingdom.
Equine viral arteritis (EVA) is a disease of horses caused by a virus of the species Alphaarterivirus equid, an RNA virus. It is the only species in the genus Alphaarterivirus, and that is the only genus in the Equarterivirinae subfamily. The virus which causes EVA was first isolated in 1953, but the disease has afflicted equine animals worldwide for centuries. It has been more common in some breeds of horses in the United States, but there is no breed "immunity". In the UK, it is a notifiable disease. There is no known human hazard.
The Faculty of Veterinary Science is a faculty of the University of Pretoria. Founded in 1920, it is the second oldest veterinary faculty in Africa. With the exception of the faculties in Khartoum, and Cairo, all the other African faculties were established after 1960. It is the only one of its kind in South Africa and is one of 33 veterinary faculties in Africa.
Brooke is a United Kingdom-based international equine charity, which focuses on the welfare and care of donkeys, horses and mules. With more than 900 people working helping to deliver services, Brooke is the largest equine charity in the world.
The Italian Horse Protection Association (IHP) is the only rescue center in Italy for mistreated and confiscated equines, based on Law 189 of 2004.
Brian Derek Perry, OBE is a British veterinary surgeon and epidemiologist renowned for the integration of veterinary epidemiology and agricultural economics, as a tool for disease control policy and strategy development, and specialised in international agricultural development. He is an Honorary Professor at the University of Edinburgh, a visiting professor at the Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford.
Sarah Cleaveland is a veterinary surgeon and Professor of Comparative Epidemiology at the University of Glasgow.
Daria Nina Love was an Australian veterinary microbiologist and educator. She was the first woman to be awarded the University of Sydney Medal for Veterinary Science and the first woman in the Faculty of Veterinary Science to be awarded a PhD (1973), for her thesis entitled ‘Studies on virus host-cell relationships of a feline calicivirus’. She was also the first woman to become an associate professor in the Faculty of Veterinary Science, although her bids to become a full professor were unsuccessful. In 1988, she became the first woman in Australia to be awarded a Doctor of Veterinary Science on the basis of her work on the “Biological Properties of some Microorganisms of Veterinary Importance”. Love was renowned for the advances made through her research in the areas of soft tissue infections, oral cavity disease and feline and equine respiratory infections. She received a Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC) award for her outstanding contributions to equine research and the Australian Horse Industry in 2001.
The Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences (FVAS) was a faculty of the University of Melbourne until it was disestablished on 1 January 2023. The two schools merged into the Faculty of Science. The faculty was a medium sized faculty for undergraduate education and academic research into economically and medically important fields related to agriculture and veterinary science, such as agronomy, biosecurity, environment, food security, food science, parasitology, pest control, veterinary virology, zoonotic diseases, etc.
Naomi Cogger is an Australian–New Zealand epidemiologist, and is a full professor at Massey University, specialising in the epidemiology of animal diseases that impact animal and human health, and food security.
Andrew Higgins is a British veterinarian and scientist.
Other organisations which will be seeking a new patron include... the Animal Health Trust...