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Veterinarian shortage threatens food safety

  • Spence Cooper
  • December 1, 2010

Large-animal veterinarians are vanishing from the workforce, and because many of these veterinarians serve as inspectors at ranches and slaughterhouses, their diminishing numbers may have negative consequences on food safety.

“They’re basically on the front line when it comes to maintaining a safe food supply, not only in the U.S., but in products we export. Vets diagnose diseases that can be transferred from animals to humans,” says David Kirkpatrick, spokesman for the American Veterinary Medical Association.

Factory farms have used antibiotics in healthy animals for years to promote faster growth, but experts have warned that the misuse of antibiotics pose a serious public health threat because their overuse has created new super-strains of bacteria resistant to antibiotics.

As a result, the FDA recently issued draft guidelines to factory farms and livestock producers to curb antibiotic use, recommending that antibiotics be used only in acute medical situations and under the supervision of a veterinarian. But one reason farmers and livestock producers are critical of these new guidelines is because the FDA requires a veterinarian to oversee the use of antibiotics, and there is a severe shortage of large-animal veterinarians.

Stuart Hall, a California veterinarian notes that a single call can tie him up for four hours” time in which he can’t respond to emergencies. “My worry is always that a farmer is going to try to take care of something themselves,” he said.

A recent survey by the American Veterinary Medical Association found that only 2% of veterinary school students in 2010 graduating classes plan to work with large animals. USA Today reports that from 1998 to 2009, the number of small animal veterinarians climbed to 47,118 from 30,255, while the number of farm-animal vets dropped to 5,040 from 5,553.

One of the reasons for the shortage of farm and ranch veterinarians is money: large-animal vets earn a lower salary — $57,745 on average compared with $64,744 for small-animal vets. Additionally, many would-be veterinarians are attracted to working with smaller, domesticated pets in an office setting in the city as opposed to contending with larger animals in the country.

One pre-veterinarian student claimed she has been shoved, bruised and knocked down by the sheep she feeds every day as a student worker at the on-campus farm at California State University, Fresno. “This is why I want to work with dogs and kitties. I don’t want to deal with anything bigger than me,” the 19-year-old said.

To deal with the shortage, the University of California, Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine gives applicants interested in becoming farm-animal vets an admissions edge; the University has increased the number of students interested in large-animal medicine to double the number in four years.

And in over a dozen states, loan repayment programs and other incentives are offered to students who pledge to work in a region in need of large-animal veterinarians.

Several bills have also been introduced in an attempt to increase the number of farm animal veterinarians, including the Veterinary Services Investment Act, designed to aid potential veterinarians by providing financial assistance for students. The bill passed the House in September and is awaiting approval in the Senate.

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