RSPCA reveals new head of farm animals

The RSPCA’s poultry specialist, who has travelled the world to help improve welfare, has now been named as the new head of the RSPCA’s farm animals department.

Marc Cooper, who has worked for the RSPCA for 12 years, and first started within the Farm Animals Department as a Scientific Officer, is taking over the post from Julia Wrathall who will now be leading the charity’s four science departments.

Dr Cooper said: “I’m immensely proud to be the new head of the RSPCA’s farm animals department and to be given the opportunity to continue the excellent work of my predecessors. The RSPCA is the ‘go to’ charity when it comes to animal welfare and was in fact originally founded 192 years ago over concerns about the treatment of farm animals.

“I am very fortunate to be leading a fantastic, dedicated team of experts who are not only passionate about what they do, but also have an essential combination of academic expertise as well as hands-on practical experience.

“We will continue to take an evidence based, considered and pragmatic approach to our work, and will strive to positively engage with the food and farming industries to achieve change together.”

Marc Cooper studied animal science and animal production both at degree level, and then read for a PhD in animal behaviour and welfare at Moulton College in Northamptonshire and the University of Cambridge.

He first started working with farm animals at the age of 13, when he worked at Willow Tree Farm, which reared pigs and poultry, in Glemsford, Suffolk. He also worked as a veterinary nurse at a mixed practice, within the research and development department for a pet food manufacturer, and as a lead auditor for a third party auditing company - auditing pig and poultry farms and abattoirs - before joining the RSPCA in 2004.

During his time with the RSPCA he has travelled extensively to Africa, Brazil, Thailand, Canada and Australia to carry out consultancy work and give presentations on a variety of poultry welfare issues, including slaughter.

Over the years, he has played a big role in publicly highlighting welfare problems affecting meat poultry and worked with celebrities, including Jamie Oliver, Jimmy Doherty and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, on various TV programmes.

The RSPCA established the first of its four science departments, which between them cover all animal groups - farmed, wild, companion, and animals used in research - in the 1970s to ensure its policies, position, and work are informed and guided by evidence.

Thanks in part in a generous £3.4 million grant from the Tubney Charitable Trust the farm animals department is the largest of the RSPCA’s science teams, with 19 members of staff.

Marc Cooper is the fifth head of the department, and since the 1990s the team has been developing and producing welfare standards for farm animals. The standards cover the whole of the animal’s life and underpin the RSPCA’s ethical food label that is dedicated to farm animal welfare - RSPCA Assured.

The department includes an expert team of seven Farm Livestock Officers who work in the field and monitor RSPCA Assured farms.

Dr Cooper said: “It is a very exciting time to be heading up the farm animals department as we are working on some some very important areas that will continue to have a significant impact on improving the lives of millions of animals worldwide. If you’re concerned about animal welfare and want to be involved in making real change then I don’t believe there’s anywhere better to be working.”