How veterinary students learn determines how they practice welfare throughout their careers, making veterinary education a welfare leverage point.
The welfare orientation of veterinary graduates depends significantly on how welfare is taught and modeled in their education. Schools that integrate welfare throughout clinical training — not just as a standalone module — produce graduates who apply welfare thinking habitually across their practice. Student advocates who push for reduced animal use in education and stronger welfare content in curricula are improving the welfare orientation of the entire next generation of veterinary practitioners.