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Concern over use of bits in royal horses’ mouths
Michael Fox urged the royal horse brigade to put animal welfare ahead of tradition.
Horses showed signs of ‘oral discomfort’ at Royal Wedding, vet says

A US vet has urged members of the royal family not to use bits in their horses’ mouths, after coverage of the Royal Wedding showed horses in ‘obvious oral discomfort’.

In a letter to Vet Record, Michael Fox said the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on Saturday (19 May), was ‘marred’ by the use of bits.

Commenting on the television coverage, he said: ‘Several horses were tossing their heads, mouthing and chomping and drooling in obvious oral discomfort’.

He added: ‘Whilst traditions die hard, especially in equine circles, let’s hope that this couple will extend their compassion to break the circle of anthropocentrism, and help ensure the humane treatment of all creatures great and small.

‘A British veterinary colleague has long established the inhumanity of the “snaffle-bit” and has developed a widely used bitless bridle for horses. Time for the Royal horse brigade to get with the times and put animal welfare and respect before blind tradition.’

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RCVS Knowledge appoints Veterinary Evidence editor-in-chief

News Story 1
 RCVS Knowledge has welcomed Professor Peter Cockcroft as editor-in-chief for Veterinary Evidence.

A world-renowned expert in evidence-based veterinary medicine, Prof Cockcroft will lead the strategic development and editorial quality of the open-access journal. He was previously in the role from 2017-2020.

Katie Mantell, CEO of RCVS Knowledge, said: "We are excited about the extensive knowledge of evidence-based veterinary medicine and clinical veterinary research that Peter brings, and we look forward to working with him over this next phase of the journal's development." 

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News Shorts
CVS Group hit by cyber attack

CVS Group, which owns more than 450 veterinary practices in the UK, has been hit by a cyber attack.

In a statement, the group said the incident involved unauthorised external access to a limited number of its IT systems. As soon as the attack was discovered, the group took its IT systems temporarily offline, causing 'considerable operational disruption'.

It has warned that the security steps taken and ongoing plans to move its operational systems and IT infrastructure to the Cloud are likely to have an ongoing impact over a number of weeks.

Due to the risk that personal information was accessed, CVS has informed the Information Commissioner's Office. The company is working with third party consultants to investigate the incident.