Ethics and Options: Preempting Animal Cruelty and Preserving the Bond

Many individuals pursue a career in veterinary medicine because they want to help animals. It is not until they are licensed and working in private practice that they realize the significant role they play in the lives of the humans who bring them their patients. When a low-income client presents a severely neglected animal to a veterinarian for treatment, the doctor faces a difficult conundrum: is it their duty to protect the animal from continued neglect or is it their duty to help the person who may be struggling financially to care for their animal? In states where veterinary reporting of animal cruelty is mandatory, the stress this ethical dilemma can put on a veterinarian is significant. Throughout this 60-minute presentation, the audience will gain clarity around the veterinarian’s role in addressing animal cruelty resulting from poverty.

Initially the speakers will explore how the human animal bond thrives regardless of socioeconomic status. In fact, in many cases, it is the single motivating factor for individuals who might otherwise turn to substance abuse or self-harm as a result of their financial instability or houselessness. Speakers will give a national overview of what veterinarians in various states are doing to preserve the human animal bond when faced with clients who have severely limited resources—from mobile clinics to community hospitals.

The presenters will then discuss the variety of ways that animal neglect is born out of poverty. Using case studies, the speakers will impart practical knowledge regarding how veterinarians can identify a patient who is at risk of neglect and the various methods of addressing it before it escalates to a criminal violation. Speakers will challenge the audience to evaluate a spectrum of cases involving indigent animal owners and their injured or ill animals to assess their response in juxtaposition with what the criminal code mandates and veterinary ethics require.

Learning objective #1: Impact of Poverty on the Human Animal Bond

Learning objective #2: Preserving the Bond: The Veterinarian’s Role