One Welfare Theory looks at issues from a wide, national, global and holistic perspective. The concept refers to not only animal welfare but includes human welfare and societal mental health, as well as environmental conservation.
Our goal is to critically and independently assess animals, environments and communities to ensure best practices, health and welfare, and conservation occur for all production species but also contribute broadly to the global knowledge required to sustainably preserve all ecosystems; as well as improve the lives of the human communities that live within the footprint of production. Veterinarians can complement One Welfare by value-adding to the work done by ecologists and biologists through the study of wildlife and production animal health and survivorship under normal and adverse environmental conditions.
Mission
The mission of the One Welfare and Sustainability Center (OWSC) is to become a center for species welfare and sustainability through research knowledge, training, outreach, and expertise within a network of animal researchers and managers while serving other species of conservation concern.
Goals
- Goal 1. Establish OWSC at Ohio State as the global leader in animal population health, welfare and sustainability, with an emphasis on their application to conservation-oriented systems.
- Goal 2. Develop a comprehensive training program in animal population health, welfare, and sustainability targeting professional Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) and graduate students, and veterinary clinical residents.
- Goal 3. Deliver global outreach in support of animal population health, welfare, and sustainability in production systems using novel species.
- Goal 4. Conduct outreach research and serve as the scientific liaison with our center partners in regions where the species of interest occur.
- Goal 5. Promote the OWSC to the industry stakeholders and Universities and develop a collaborative relationship with existing bodies.
Objective
The One Welfare and Sustainability Center facilitates a multi-disciplinary collaborative team of expertise capable of establishing health baselines through to addressing an urgent and critical need to monitor, diagnose, interpret, report, and make recommendations on managing our free-ranging environment against natural and anthropogenic stressors. We share this knowledge with our university, scientific and local communities.
By virtue of the interdisciplinary nature of the field of One Welfare, this center is interdisciplinary. Areas of expertise within our ranks span veterinary medicine, conservation science, ecology and biology, the social sciences, economics, and education. The diverse personal and professional backgrounds of our members, partners and collaborators make us able to comprehensively use science from a range of perspectives to approach the potentially controversial topics and opinions that plague all wildlife and production systems, whether an endangered wild species under an anthropogenic stressor, an exotic species used in a high-end fashion industry, or a common domesticated production species housed in a system that is perceived to be inadequate.
Role
The One Welfare and Sustainability Center (i) conducts appropriate research to advance the field of One Welfare; (ii) interacts with stakeholders, other academics and government agencies involved with using or preserving our natural environment to knowledge share and achieve common goals; (iii) 
educates at the community level on all aspects of One Welfare to raise awareness of issues for the current and future generations; and (iv) educates professional DVM and graduate students in the appropriate skills needed to contribute to maintaining and improving the health of ecosystem.
Members of the One Welfare and Sustainability Center are able to collaborate with other tertiary, government, NGO’s and special interest groups, in times of anomalous or catastrophic events, to assist with creating informed strategies to mitigate short term and/or long-term negative impacts and determine risk factors.
