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Veterinarians in Trinidad and Tobago will today be
joining their colleagues around the World to commemorate
WORLD VETERINARY DAY, a day set aside each year to
highlight the importance of veterinarians to Society. The
theme for this year’s celebration is "Celebrating
our Diversity” and in this regard, Mount
Hope’s School of Veterinary Medicine, earlier this
week, participated in a Careers Fair at the Centre of Excellence
as part of “Careers in Health”.
Many times, people think of veterinarians only as
people who treat pets and visit farm animals but the
global role of the veterinary profession must never be
underestimated. Can you imagine the chaos that will result
if the daily movement of people, animal and animal
products is not monitored? Infectious diseases will
spread rapidly and threaten the health and lives of
both animals and humans. Avian influenza (Bird Flu),
West Nile virus, a disease spread by mosquitoes and affects
man, birds and horses and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
(SARS) are but few of the dozens of emerging diseases that
require a strong veterinary input if they are to be controlled.
And this is not just checking airports and sea ports but
monitoring migratory birds and disease organisms that travel
in the wind.
So, do you still think that veterinarians
only take care of pets and farm animals? What about the millions
of people who depend on animal products for their survival. The
drive to keep meat, milk, eggs and honey healthy and fit
for human consumption is imperative. Some of you may
wonder “but honey is such a perfect food”. Honey
is a perfect food, yes, but bees suffer with diseases and
it is veterinarians who monitor the hives to ensure the
colonies stay healthy so we can continue to get honey.
The poorest people in the World
are the ones who depend most
on livestock and their by-products to earn a living
and veterinarians are always at the forefront in
ensuring that these people and their animals, often
in isolated and sometimes dangerous places, are kept in
a good state of health.
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Companion animals are important to human well-being. Seeing-eye
and hearing dogs help the blind, the deaf and the disabled
while pets such as cats, birds and fishes reduce stress
in humans helping them live more fruitful, productive lives.
And who is there to help maintain such animals in good
health by offering skilled services when things go
wrong? Why, it’s veterinarians of course.
Domesticated animals are not the only ones that
benefit from the knowledge and compassion of
veterinarians. Wildlife is an increasingly important
part of the veterinary practitioner's responsibilities.
As our plant and animal ecosystems become threatened through
habitat destruction, veterinarians become solid
partners with their counterparts from other professions
as they contribute substantially to conservation
programmes and to the monitoring of ecosystems around
the World.
The School of Veterinary Medicine
(SVM) of the University
of the West Indies in collaboration with government and
the private veterinarians is at the forefront of veterinary
endeavour in Trinidad and Tobago and the wider Caribbean.
We are training "Next generation veterinarians".
We provide clinical and diagnostic testing services,
conduct cutting edge research, and offer consultancy
services.
Let us today, World Veterinary Day,
recognize that there is Harmony in Diversity and while
veterinarians may live and work in different countries
our goal is the same: “To
keep animals and their products healthy and safe while
we attempt to stem the rate at which certain species are
being driven to extinction”.
Information on the School of Veterinary Medicine and its
work can be obtained from www.uwivet.edu or
call us at 1-868-645-4481.
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