In DystociaPilar Membrillo It tells the love story of two cows. It does so with delightful prose and delicacy, recounting the relationships that develop between them and dedicating pages to describing behaviors we have long believed to be exclusive to primates, such as mourning the loss of a beloved companion. Now, to the emotional complexity portrayed by this veterinarian from Banyoles in her novel, we must add a cognition far more complex than previously thought, as Veronika, a 13-year-old cow grazing in southern Austria, has shown us.

The Catalan pharmaceutical company Hipra will begin animal trials next year of the prototype vaccines it has developed against African swine fever (ASF), although the treatment will not be available to eradicate the current outbreak of the virus detected in Catalonia. The company has been researching the virus since 2019 and has been leading a European project to develop an ASF vaccine for the past two years. Marta Sitjà, research director of Hipra's animal health division, admits that this virus, in addition to its virulence, is also "very complex" because it has up to 150 proteins, and blocking just one is not enough to prevent it from continuing to infect pigs. However, Hipra cannot yet give a date for when the ASF vaccine will reach the market. "We are still far from that," says Sitjà, who emphasizes that in the face of the current crisis, measures must be taken to eradicate the virus.

The group of veterinarians in the State has been expressing their discontent for weeks over the new regulation of medicines for animals. The protests coincide with the alarms raised over whether the royal decree that came into force at the beginning of the year, transposing a European directive, could cause pets to be left without the necessary medicines. A concern fuelled by the death of the dog Selva in A Coruña, who they say has been "the first victim" of the new regulations, designed with the aim of improving the control of these drugs, avoiding illnesses and minimising resistance to microorganisms.