Food Animal Veterinary Ethics Questioned

May 8, 2013 — 

The May 2013 issue of DVM360 magazine contains an article penned by a companion animal veterinarian questioning why concern for food animals is not included in the veterinarian’s oath. He admits to learning about how food animals are cared for by reading the book Animal Liberation by Pete Singer a well-known animal rights activist. He claims we have adopted a system of animal agriculture “in which we have sacrificed virtually any commitment to farm animal well-being.”

The article’s author, Dr. Barry Kipperman, goes on to insinuate that veterinarians have had little impact on farm animal welfare due to “the interdependent relationship between a subset of large animal veterinarians and the agriculture industry.” He calls on small animal veterinarians to adhere to their oath and broaden their scope of “moral concern” to include food animals since “we cannot rely on the agriculture industry to improve the welfare of farm animals.”

I encourage you to read the article and respond, if you are so inclined, to both DVM360 (dvmnews@advanstar.com ) and the magazine’s editor Kristi Reimer (kreimer@advanstar.com) directly.