Editorial: It will take a village to solve local vet shortage
By Spencer Hall, Editor
The Robson Valley has been without local veterinary services for just over five months now following the retirement of long-time veterinarian Dr. Tom Vogel, yet we’ve seen little to no movement in recent months from our local and regional governments to address this pressing issue.
Jasper veterinarian Dr. Janet Jones, who used to have a satellite clinic in Valemount also recently retired, however the Jasper Vet Clinic will soon re-open with a temporary location (see P10). This does not solve the anxieties local pet and livestock owners face. We need a vet who is located in the Robson Valley.
In January, RDFFG Area H Director Dannielle Alan said the District has been working with the Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako to “advocate for more resources for training and help for new vets setting up large animal practices in rural BC.”
“We have repeatedly met with the Ministries of Agriculture and Education and will continue – the current situation for pet owners and agricultural producers is untenable,” she said, adding that the District will continue to push for more from the Province.
The Villages of McBride and Valemount should look to collaborate with the RDFFG and local pet and livestock owners to develop a veterinary recruitment strategy that would include promoting the outdoor recreation opportunities available in the region in order to attract a vet to permanently serve the Robson Valley.
Months have since passed without a local vet able to provide routine and emergency animal care and pet and livestock owners are filled with insecurity of what they will do if their animal becomes ill or injured.
Personally, this question keeps me up at night. I have four wonderful animals who enrich my life in ways I can’t even describe. Three are dogs who will eat anything that remotely resembles food wherever they find it — a pinecone, a plastic flower pot, and a five-pound bag of raw potatoes that perhaps was stored a bit too close to the ground have all fallen victim to their insatiable appetites. Thankfully they haven’t had to see a vet due to their bizarre cravings yet, but I fear it is only a matter of time.
Over the past few months, I have heard from pet owners who haven’t been as lucky as me and have been forced to travel long distances — Jasper, Hinton, Prince George, Kamloops, etc. — sometime multiple times in one week just to receive basic veterinary care or worse, to say that last painful goodbye.
The Province has announced a couple supports over the past year or so aimed at tackling the vet shortage across B.C., but most have fallen short of providing rural residents veterinary care for their pets, especially for those in the Robson Valley who don’t have a veterinarian in a nearby community.
In April 2024, B.C.’s Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills announced it would be doubling the number of funded seats at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan from 20 to 40. This is wonderful news, but it does not mean these newly trained vets will move to rural areas.
A few months later in June, the Ministry of Post-Secondary Education announced the International Credentials Recognition Act, which requires multiple regulatory agencies, including the College of Veterinarians, to streamline the process of recognizing international training in the province. This is a welcome change, but also does not specifically focus on rural and remote areas that struggle to attract veterinarians. It is not clear if this move will benefit our region.
One solution brought up at the veterinary shortage meeting in Dunster earlier this month that I found interesting was lobbying the B.C. Government to create a similar program to the Province of Manitoba’s One Health program, which is administered by the Winnipeg Humane Society. The program focuses on bringing accessible veterinary care to remote communities by providing mobile veterinary services and spay and neuter clinics.
The idea behind One Health is based on traditional Indigenous knowledge that community health is interconnected — meaning that if a dog’s health is poor, it will impact the health and wellbeing of the human.
This program could potentially be replicated in B.C., but it would require the collaboration of multiple organizations, like the BC SPCA, local First Nations, the Ministry of Agriculture as well as the RDFFG and would not alleviate the anxiety local pet and livestock owners feel about emergency veterinary needs.
Without regular veterinary care, the quality of life for animals and their human counterparts diminishes. If residents can’t find local veterinary services they are forced to travel long distances and risk losing their pets and livestock in emergency situations. Because of this, some pet owners may consider relocating to communities that do have adequate veterinary care.
Local government officials need to prioritize the recruitment of a veterinarian to the Robson Valley and work with residents to come up with solutions that address both short term and long term veterinary needs.
