The global COVID-19 pandemic caused the Professional Animal Auditor Certification Organization (PAACO) to redesign its entire training schedule and transition to virtual delivery in 2020. Because demand for certification and animal welfare training continued, PAACO trained more than 500 attendees in 2020, many of whom will now seek certification.
PAACO will consider a return to in-person training in the second half of 2021 but found many advantages to training using the new virtual format. “We learned that providing virtual training allows many more people around the globe to access PAACO Welfare Auditor Training,” observed PAACO Executive Director Collette Kaster. Interest in animal welfare improvement and oversight continues to grow, and the expanded audience has led PAACO to offer virtual and/or hybrid training to their upcoming schedule to meet the additional demand.