Thread by @SteveMcCVet

@BritishVets @ElenaEG4A @vetlife 1/ Thanks @BritishVets for your reply. I commented because it seemed to me that the national veterinary body should take the opportunity of #worldwellbeingweek to promote the wellbeing of sentient animals as well as human beings.

@BritishVets @ElenaEG4A @vetlife 2/ After all, there are only ~20,000 vets & ~12,500 nurses in UK. In contrast there are ~1 billion land farm animals killed annually, ~4-5 billion further marine animals killed & ~4 million experimental procedures on sentient animals used in research. Also ~16 million cats & dogs

@BritishVets @ElenaEG4A @vetlife 3/ Not to mention millions more wild animals incuding cherished native species such as badgers & foxes. All of these are sentient animals with a wellbeing that might be promoted by veterinary organisations with a platform such as @BritishVets in #WorldWellbeingWeek

@BritishVets @ElenaEG4A @vetlife 4/ The omission of reference to sentient animals led me to look at the BVA website and its vision:

'A strong and respected veterinary profession working to improve animal health and welfare for the benefit of society'

@BritishVets @ElenaEG4A @vetlife 5/ Might I suggest the BVA looks at amending this vision as there is a major problem in it that makes the statement problematic from a moral point of view and is not consistent with how modern science grounds direct duties to sentient nonhumans.

@BritishVets @ElenaEG4A @vetlife 6/ Essentially, the vision of the vet profession should not solely be to 'improve animal health & welfare for the benefit of society'. The vet profession should (and does) aim to improve animal health & welfare for the benefit of *those sentient animals themselves*...

@BritishVets @ElenaEG4A @vetlife 6/ (as well as society). The current vision 'to improve animal health and welfare for the benefit of society' is deeply anthropocentric. It strongly suggests & arguably entails that vet profession is only endeavouring to improve animal health and welfare for human benefit.

@BritishVets @ElenaEG4A @vetlife 7/ Thus, the BVA vision implies vets only have indirect duties to animals. Modern science tells us that veterinary species eg dogs, cats, pigs, chickens, fish, rats, mice, badgers, foxes etc are sentient. I.e. these species can experience +ve or -ve emotional states.

@BritishVets @ElenaEG4A @vetlife 8/ It is this sentience that grounds direct moral duties. This means that we, society at large & including vet profession, should & do endeavour to improve animal health and wellbeing not solely for society but first & foremost for those sentient nonhuman individuals themselves.

@BritishVets @ElenaEG4A @vetlife 9/ I suggest amending the BVA vision to something like:

'A strong and respected veterinary profession working to improve animal health and welfare *and* benefit human society'

It is the 'for the benefit of society' that is the problem with the current BVA vision.

@BritishVets @ElenaEG4A @vetlife 10/ Arguably, the BVA is not, and certainly should not be, as deeply anthropocentric as its current vision statement suggests it to be. END

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