Activist agendas sway veterinary profession

As a swelling animal activist movement heads mainstream, evidence of its influence is creeping into the veterinary profession.

To an outsider, initial moves toward amending livestock standards, drivers to increase the economic value of pets and the legal profession's newfound passion for animal law might not appear groundbreaking. But for those familiar with the conservative veterinary profession, each step in line with activists seems almost revolutionary.

The profession is evolving, says legal expert Jim Wilson, DVM, JD. Unsuspecting veterinarians could be in for a surprise, he warns.

"On the whole, veterinarians don't grasp the importance of these issues as they relate to the changing status of animals," says Wilson, head of Priority Veterinary Management Consultants in Yardley, Pa. "The result is most still think of animals as nothing more than property when society's moving to anthropomorphize them. Veterinarians are the original animal welfarists, but these signs from society mean life as a veterinarian will never be the same."

Pushing the envelope at AVMA

Change became most evident in July, when the American Veterinary Medical Association's (AVMA) delegates suspended their rules and drew up an impromptu resolution to rethink whether industry's sow gestation stalls should still be considered welfare appropriate.

The decree, approved at the group's annual meeting in Denver, was thrown together after more than an hour of heated debate among members. What's more, much of the language was taken directly from a resolution submitted by Farm Sanctuary - an activist group that's proposed the initiative for more than five years but until now had largely been ignored.

Upping pet worth

Reformations of animal protection laws within state legislatures reflect this trend. New civil statutes broaden legal protection of companion animals from owners. More than 40 states now deem cruelty to animals a felony while animal abandonment is a crime in 18 states, the American Veterinary Medical Law Association reports.

But the most significant venue for increased animal value is the nation's courts. The law traditionally nixes emotional damage remedies for the loss of pets, but judges faced with a barrage of these lawsuits are growing reluctant to dismiss them. Any decision to define pets as worth more than their fair market value would expose practitioners to increased litigation thereby forcing insurance premiums to skyrocket, experts predict.

"Court awards are getting big enough to create a financial opportunity for lawyers to make a living; that's where the real movement is going," Wilson says. "This will become all about economic opportunity. That's why you're seeing more and more of these cases."

Making headway

In 2000, Tennessee became the first state to grant pet owners rights to pain and suffering damages as well as punitive damages for abuse and neglect. A version of that bill passed in Illinois last year while others are lurking in Rhode Island, Connecticut and New York legislatures.

Rick Alampi, executive director of the New Jersey Veterinary Medical Association (NJVMA), is working to block a bill allowing uncapped damages for emotional distress from resurfacing in the state Legislature. The measure currently is dead in committee.

"These activists are pretty well coordinated and pretty smart, and it's tough to keep them down," Alampi says. "I think that the pressure is coming to bear on Joe and Jane Practitioner. People's attitudes toward animals have changed substantially."

No longer the radical fringe

That's because animal activism has become the "cause du jour," says Dr. Gail Golab, AVMA assistant director for professional and public affairs. Widespread public acceptance can be explained by society's detachment from the farm, she adds.

"People like causes; they're looking to latch on to something," Golab says. "They're doting on their companion animals, taking their feelings and applying them across species. Pigs aren't dogs, yet people don't understand that so they're equating how their animal lives in the house to how animals live on a farm. This disconnect between the public and the scientific community, it's been building for a decade."

Hit from all sides

Nowhere is animal activism more prevalent than in California, where state veterinary leaders battle city declaw and cosmetic surgery bans, farm animal welfare petitions, activist-laden legislative bills and the movement to change pet "owner" to "guardian," which is spreading among municipalities.

Many activist organizations are based in the state, and Los Angeles is home to the annual Animal Rights Conference, where activists gather for educational symposiums offering guidance on how to manipulate state legislatures, lobby, attract volunteers and raise funds.

The pressure has become so great, the California Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA) plans to meet this month to discuss activist topics and formulate positions on the most rampant issues.

"It's on everyone's table these days - cat declaws, tail docking, dangerous dogs, owner/guardianship. There's a lot of disagreement within the veterinary community on what our positions should be," says Dr. Dick Schumacher, CVMA executive director. "This discontent is a reflection of the society we live in, and as an association, we follow all these issues very closely."

Positive, negative impacts

For all the battling, animal activists aren't solely to blame. In fact, much of the discontent comes from within the veterinary community as was evident at this year's AVMA House of Delegates meeting.

"There's definitely been a push from the activist segment, but to entirely credit them would be misleading," Golab says. "Animal welfare itself has emerged as a science, and there is a lot of information from Ph.D. researchers coming out as a result. Veterinarians are paying attention."

An increased number of women in the profession also has heightened sensitivity toward animals, says veteran animal rights activist Dr. Elliot Katz.

"There will always be naysayers," he says. "But I think this movement is raising the bootstraps of the veterinary profession."