In connection with the World Veterinarian Day, the Animal and Veterinary Sciences Group at the Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences of the College of Agricultural & Marine Sciences at Sultan Qaboos University organized the Animal and Veterinary Sciences Forum on Tuesday, 23 April 2019. The aim of the event was to highlight animal’s health and to spread awareness in our society regarding animal’s welfare and handling, as well as, prevention methods from zoonotic and contagious diseases and their consequences like human and economic losses. The event served as a platform to connect university students and animal science and veterinary specialists from the academic staff, students with specialists from outside the university.

The forum provided information to the students about animals and the basis of handling them and informed them about diseases, causes and the ways of diagnosing them and prevention methods. The activities of the forum helped the veterinary technology students to improve their skills and expertise in spreading awareness on the importance of animals and human relationship and its economic and environmental aspects.

The opening ceremony of the forum was held under the patronage of Dr. Abdullah Mohammed Al-Sadi, Dean of the College of Agricultural & Marine Sciences on Tuesday, 23 April. The accompanying exhibition included photography corner with snakes, parasites corner, interactive corner disseminating information on quality of eggs, taste of meat, etc. An interactive workshop on “blood identification” will be held on 24 April for SQU students. The workshop seeks to spread information on taking blood sample, the components of blood, taking blood smear and examining it under the microscope for different animals and differentiating between the samples. Other topics include anatomy of mice, measurement of blood pressure. The workshop will be followed by a live show of police dogs (Alfa) in front of the College of Agricultural and Marine sciences.

On Saturday, 27 April from 9 am to 5 pm, the Veterinary Sciences Group will organize “My day as veterinarian “event as a special day for children (7-12 years old) and it included educational and recreational activities held at the University's Agricultural Experiment Station. The idea is to teach children certain veterinary skills through fun and adventure. The event includes a tour at the University Agricultural Experiment station to see the different animals and teach them the ways to deal with them, with effective activities to assess animal health. The participating students will be given the opportunity to use stethoscope and other veterinary medical instruments.