Besides its institutional functions, the Institute also performs a series of actions aimed at managing epidemic emergencies, at the defence of animal welfare, at education for health and at the development of Pet Therapy programmes.

In the matter of epidemic emergencies, there is a management system in place which enables the entry of any new pathologies into Italian territory to be controlled, in order to make it possible in real time to identify the source of the infection and monitor the various phases of development of the disease.

The Institute also has a presence on the national and international scene in the field of research and training programmes for animal welfare , and is a participant in initiatives promoted by the European Commission in connection with the programme "Better training for safer food" for propagating the skills needed for complying with standards of animal welfare during transport, at the stunning and slaughter stages, and in the event of culling to control disease. The Institute is in fact the body which, since 2007 and up to 2010, delivers training in this area on behalf of the European Commission, for the benefit of the competent national authorities in countries in the European Union, candidate countries and non-EU countries. Monitoring the dog population, the welfare of laboratory animals and the study of alternative models are other areas of research where international relationships and collaborations are maintained.

Education for health is another area of activity in which the Institute has invested heavily in the conviction that young people's awareness should be raised, with projects in schools on health and safety, on the relationship between people, animals and the environment, on the problem of strays, and on the promotion of education about the choice, storage and consumption of foods.

For more than ten years the Institute has run Pet Therapy  programmes (i.e. activities and treatments assisted by animals), and co-therapy for the psycho-physical recovery of vulnerable people.

These programmes, developed by major international experts on the welfare and behaviour of therapy animals and on applied zoo-anthropology, are rigorously run by a team of professionals which includes psychologists, veterinarians, physiotherapists, educationists, experts in dog training and animal handlers.