Dr. Paolo Dalla Villa is an Italian veterinarian and EBVS® European Veterinary Specialist in Animal Welfare Science, Ethics and Law, working at the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell'Abruzzo e del Molise “G. Caporale” in Teramo / WOAH Collaborating Centre for Animal Welfare since 2002.
Between 2012 and 2015, he served as a Seconded National Expert at the European Commission (DG SANTE), contributing to the development and implementation of EU animal welfare policies, with a focus on international cooperation and the protection of companion animals.
From 2016 to 2020, he headed the National Reference Centre for Urban Veterinary Hygiene and Non-Epidemic Emergencies (IUVENE), established by the Italian Ministry of Health to provide technical and scientific support for dog and cat population control programmes, as well as manuals and operational procedures for the management of long-term shelters.
He later joined the WOAH Sub-Regional Representation in Brussels, where he contributed to the development and implementation of the WOAH Platform on Animal Welfare for Europe, particularly on dog population management in the Balkans and Western Eurasia. He currently works at the WOAH Standards Department in Paris, providing technical and scientific support on animal welfare and disaster management at the global level.
Dr. Dalla Villa chaired the ad-hoc group for the revision of the WOAH International standards on dog population management and has been actively involved in veterinary task forces established following the natural disasters that struck Central Italy in 2009, 2016 and 2017. He recently published an article on “Veterinary response to non-epidemic disasters: the experience of the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell’Abruzzo e del Molise ‘G. Caporale’ after the 2009 earthquake in L’Aquila, Italy”, reporting on companion animal rescue and assistance activities carried out under his coordination.