Veterinary ethics

Veterinary medical ethics have gained attention recently but their development is still ongoing. For instance, not all veterinary curricula contain ethics and new topics and challenges have entered the field. Veterinary ethics began with pioneers like Tannenbaum, who described the triad in veterinary medicine—patient, patient owner, and veterinarian—as being the source of potential ethical conflicts. Subsequently, Rollin coined the term “moral stress” as a type of stress experienced by veterinarians when facing ethical dilemmas and drew attention to the important link with society and public concerns. It seems that we have now entered the third stage of veterinary ethicists. One the one hand, this has become a mainstream discipline with increased publications, books, and lectures as well as training opportunities. On the other hand, many new topics and themes have entered this field. Rather than the more traditional focus on clinical ethics or ethical issues of animal experimentation, veterinary ethics is now also confronted with the ethics related to trade-related animal disease control, public, or One Health issues or new breeding technologies. These issues are further complicated by globalization and migration. As a consequence, knowledge on attitudes towards animals in different parts of the world is also relevant in ethical deliberations. At the same time, in society, the so-called “animal turn” took place, whereby animals and their societal roles and needs are discussed by different disciplines. This all leads to highly complex issues for (individual) veterinarians who, in daily practice, rarely have the chance to reflect on these societal changes and do not often have the opportunity to raise their voice.

The aim of this Special Issue is to present the different facets and developments in veterinary medical ethics, including topics such as clinical ethics, public health, global health, and One Health ethics. Particular focuses are the teaching of ethics and didactics as well as moral competence and development. We intend to look to the future when veterinarians will also be asked to respond to climate change issues and their impact on animal production, but also take the carbon footprints of pets into consideration.