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Winner of young photographer award announced
'Ewe looking at me?' by Ellie-Grace Braidwood.

Snap of inquisitive sheep wins the contest.

An 11-year-old from Kearsley in Greater Manchester has won the RSPCA’s People’s Choice award following an online vote.

Winner Ellie-Grace Braidwood was up against 13 other photographers from the Mobile Phone and Devices, Pet Personalities and Pet Portraits categories of the RSPCA Young Photographer Awards. All participants were aged 18 years old or younger.

Members of the public were given a week to vote for their favourite, with a total of 4,565 votes cast.

Ellie-Grace’s winning snap of a sheep peering through a fence, which she titled ‘Ewe looking at me?’, was taken when she was walking with her parents on a local farm.

Ellie-Grace said: “I was feeding the fish and the ducks whilst out for a walk and this sheep kept on coming up to the fence and I thought he was really cute.

“I feel a mixture of shock, pride and excitement at winning. I still can’t believe people voted me to be the winner! I am thinking I might start saving up for a camera of my own and continue taking photos. I never thought I would win, but if you don’t have confidence and go for it and enter, you never will.”

RSPCA photographer and awards judge Andrew Forsyth said: “The best thing about the RSPCA Young Photographer Awards is that we're always seeing something new, and the People’s Choice award category is a great way of making the competition virtually accessible to everyone.

“Our young photographers are always bringing fresh ideas and trying different things; the creativity and talent is outstanding - and it's a real joy to look through the entries every year.

“It was a tough choice this year for our online voters, there were some truly beautiful photos on the shortlist. Ellie-Grace’s image showed bags of character, originality and really captured the personality of the sheep. It’s a wonderful photo and we hope to see more from this budding photographer in the future.

“We hope Ellie-Grace’s success will encourage lots more young people to enter this year’s RSPCA Young Photographer Awards 2023, which launches in May.”

Entries for the RSPCA Young Photographer Awards 2023 open on 4 May 2023.

 

Image (C) RSPCA and Ellie-Grace Braidwood

 

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Strangles survey seeks views of horse owners

News Story 1
 With Strangles Awareness Week just around the corner (5-11 May), vets are being encouraged to share a survey about the disease with their horse-owning clients.

The survey, which has been designed by Dechra, aims to raise awareness of Strangles and promote best practices to prevent its transmission. It includes questions about horse owners' experiences of strangles, together with preventative measures and vaccination.

Respondents to the survey will be entered into a prize draw to win two VIP tickets to Your Horse Live 2025. To access the survey, click here 

Click here for more...
News Shorts
DAERA to reduce BVD 'grace period'

DAERA has reminded herd keepers of an upcoming reduction to the 'grace period' to avoid BVD herd restrictions.

From 1 May 2025, herd keepers will have seven days to cull any BVD positive or inconclusive animals to avoid restrictions being applied to their herd.

It follows legislation introduced on 1 February, as DAERA introduces herd movement restrictions through a phased approach. Herd keepers originally had 28 days to cull BVD positive or inconclusive animals.

DAERA says that, providing herd keepers use the seven-day grace period, no herds should be restricted within the first year of these measures.

Additional measures, which will target herds with animals over 30 days old that haven't been tested for BVD, will be introduced from 1 June 2025.

More information is available on the DAERA website.