Across the world, a critical profession is quietly slipping into crisis. Veterinarians, the people we rely on to protect our pets, our food supply, and our defenses against zoonotic diseases, are in short supply.
In parts of Africa, Asia, and Latin America, a single veterinarian may be responsible for millions of animals. And we know that more than 60% of emerging infectious diseases in humans originate in animals. Veterinarians are the first to see unusual patterns in livestock, wildlife, and companion animals. When they are missing, early warning systems fail.
The U.S. faces a growing gap between the number of veterinarians needed and those available. Rural communities are hit hardest: some counties have no large-animal veterinarian, leaving livestock producers without essential care.
Veterinarians who treat companion animals are also in short supply. Across the profession, pay often falls short of the education and training required. Many graduates carry six-figure debt while earning starting salaries well below those of other medical professionals. Long hours, emotional strain, and the pressure of life-and-death decisions make burnout a constant risk. The profession’s mental-health crisis is well documented: high suicide rates, compassion fatigue, and overwhelming caseloads are pushing many veterinarians out of the field, while the pipeline of new practitioners cannot keep pace.
A surge in zoonotic and climate-driven disease threats
Old and new zoonotic disease threats
Zoonotic diseases, both longstanding and emerging, are posing significant risks to human and animal health. These include:
- Avian influenza continues to sweep through poultry and wild birds, with occasional human infections.
- Hantavirus expands into new regions as rodent populations shift in response to warming temperatures.
- COVID-19 demonstrated how quickly an animal-origin virus can upend global society.
- The New World screwworm, once eradicated from the U.S., has reappeared and could spread further as the climate warms.
Veterinarians are uniquely equipped to detect, contain, and prevent these threats through community education and collaboration.
Climate change impact on disease ecology
As temperatures rise, animals and the pathogens they carry are on the move. Birds migrate earlier; rodents expand northward; mosquitoes and ticks colonize new regions; livestock suffer under heat stress that weakens their immune systems. Best equipped to interpret these shifts and figure out plans of action are veterinarians trained in wildlife health, epidemiology, and food-animal medicine.
Veterinarians’ role in food supply oversight
Veterinarians help detect, prevent, and contain livestock diseases that can devastate economies. They also play a key role in fighting antimicrobial resistance by promoting responsible antibiotic use in animals raised for food. Without veterinarians to inspect, intervene, and guide corrective action, food security is put at risk.
Why shortages exist and how to respond
The causes
The veterinarian shortage is driven by a range of systemic barriers that make the profession increasingly difficult to sustain, including:
Educational debt: Veterinary school tuition, fees, and living expenses can range up to $436,000 for a four-year program. Salaries often fail to keep up, and although debt-relief programs exist, they remain limited.
Emotional and psychological strain: The combination of high expectations, financial stress, and exposure to animal suffering contributes to burnout and mental-health challenges.
Public misunderstanding: Many people overlook veterinarians’ vital role in public health, food safety, and disease surveillance.
Underfunded public health infrastructure: Veterinary public health receives a fraction of the funding allocated to human health, despite its vital role in preventing pandemics.
Veterinary clinic and hospital ownership: Corporations owned about 10% of U.S. general veterinary practices in 2017. Now, that figure has surged to approximately 30% to 50%, while corporate entities own roughly 75% to 80% of all specialty and emergency hospitals.
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Possible responses
Addressing the veterinarian shortage will require coordinated action across governments, educational institutions, industry, and the public, including:
- Expanding veterinary school capacity to train and educate more graduates.
- Strengthening loan-forgiveness programs tied to service in high-need areas.
- Increasing funding for veterinary public health, surveillance, and field epidemiology.
- Raising veterinarians’ salaries to be close to parity with other health professionals.
- Improve mental-health support for veterinary professionals.
- Raising public awareness of the essential role veterinarians play in human health.
Veterinarians are essential to public health and security. If we continue to undervalue their work and fail to invest in better support and compensation, the consequences will affect our families, communities, hospitals, and grocery stores.
The scarcity of veterinarians is not an animal-health issue — it is a human-future issue.
Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed here by the authors are their own, not those of impakter.com — In the Cover Photo: A young bovine curiously looks up from a holding pen tightly packed with cattle at a live cattle auction. Mercado Canuelas, Canuelas, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, 2023. Cover Photo Credit: Molly Condit / Sinergia Animal / We Animals.
