Animal Rights Activists Bully Veterinarians

If an organization truly cared about the health and welfare of animals, one would imagine they would be pretty big supporters of veterinarians, right? After all, veterinarians dedicate eight years of their lives (and a whole lot of money) to learning how to keep our livestock and pets healthy. The Veterinarian’s Oath states, “I solemnly swear to use my scientific knowledge and skills for the benefit of society through the protection of animal health and welfare,” and “the prevention and relief of animal suffering.” Sounds like a concept any animal lover could get behind. That’s why I was surprised to read a few days ago that the American Veterinary Medical Association is launching a new hotline and reputation management service to help veterinarians combat “cyber-bullying” (being targeted on social media and websites with false information, fake reviews, etc.). It turns out that one impetus for this new service was a stunt pulled by animal rights activists in 2015.During the summer of 2015, the American Veterinary Medical Foundation was running its annual “America’s Favorite Veterinarian” contest, meant to be a positive celebration of the people who care for our animals. Unfortunately, animal rights activists “hijacked” the contest and launched what the AVMF called “a vicious cyber-bullying attack” against the 20 finalists for the award.One veterinarian was called “a whore, a butcher, a mutilator, a hack, an animal hater, a disgrace to the profession.” As the chair of the AVMF board was quoted as saying, “apparently, many of the so-called animal activists have no problem practicing cruelty to human beings.”