In September 1998, the International Association of Human-Animal Interaction Organisations, IAHAIO, held its 8th international conference in Prague, Czechoslovakia entitled ‘The Changing Roles of Animals in Society’. Eight hundred delegates from 42 nations attended this three-day event. At its annual business meeting, just prior to the congress, IAHAIO national members unanimously passed the IAHAIO Prague Guidelines on Animal-Assisted Activities and Animal-Assisted Therapy (reproduced below), designed to protect the persons receiving such services, the programmes offering them and, in particular, the animals involved.