Leadership in animal welfare: the role of veterinary colleges.

I n previous articles in this series (1–3), I explored aspects of veterinary leadership in animal welfare. I suggested that the apparent lack of leadership may be partly attributable to a lack of guidance during veterinary training (1). The present article examines this and offers some suggestions. The physical aspects of animal welfare are the basis for most of the veterinary curriculum and, until rather recently, little attention was paid to ancillary topics, such as professional communication. Another ancillary topic is leadership — particularly public leadership in animal welfare, which veterinary education, as with the profession as a whole, does not yet address fully. For example, the 2003 Swine Veterinary Educator Team (SVET) has recommended an extensive and detailed core curriculum in swine medicine that includes an “...understanding of industry and clinical norms” (4). However, knowledge of welfare beyond the indisputably major areas of clinical health and production is not listed (4). Neither is behavior (4). Both subjects may have been included in other areas, such as “basic pork production systems” and the need for students “to be familiar with...Swine Welfare Assurance Program” (4,5). The Team notes correctly that “the veterinary profession is responsible for assuring the health and welfare of food-producing animals and the wholesomeness of our food supply” (4), but it does not allude to veterinarians’ role as leaders in questions about current methods of pig production — questions that concern both physical and nonphysical aspects of welfare (6). It is true that the curriculum is necessarily summarized in the article (4), but the apparent omissions are consistent, however unintentionally, with the profession serving the industry and not engaging with the challenging and perhaps uncharted process of working with industry to address ethical concerns. The tendency of the profession as a whole to serve uncritically has been noted by some veterinarians, as reviewed in an earlier article in this series (7).