Veterinary and animal suffering: from indifference to compassion

Par François VALLAT

Docteur vétérinaire, Docteur en Histoire, 10 rue Jean Pigeon, 94220 Charenton-le-Pont
francoisvallat@hotmail.com

The evolution of empathy for animals among French veterinarians can be traced through the professional press. The cruelty of the practises of surgery in the schools before 1878, and the difficulties in introducing the general usage of anaesthetics attest to an indifference to pain, as opposed to the attitude of their British colleagues. In the 1960s, pets become the object of attentions still unknown to food-producing animals, despite the global conversion of practitioners to compassion.

Bull-soc-fr-hist-med-sci-vet-2014-05

Ref. : Bull.soc.fr.hist.méd.sci.vét., 2013, 13 : 77-109