Wildlife Veterinarians Employment and Training Act

Short title— This Act may be referred to as the “Wildlife Veterinarians Employment and Training Act” or the “Wildlife VET Act”.

Table of contents— The table of contents of this Act is as follows:

Fish and wildlife are important natural resources of the United States. They belong to all citizens, and are managed in perpetuity by State and Federal conservation agencies, often with significant assistance from universities, zoos, aquariums, and nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations.

Wildlife and zoological veterinarians are the primary source of essential health care for wild animals in their natural habitat and in captivity in facilities such as zoos, wildlife refuges, breeding reserves, and aquariums.

Wildlife and zoological veterinarians have the resources and expertise necessary to help respond to environmental disasters and address short-term and long-term impacts on wildlife and their habitats. Wildlife and zoological veterinarians have proven to be essential to the rescue and rehabilitation efforts in the Gulf of Mexico region following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill that began on April 20, 2010.

According to the Department of the Interior, wildlife disease expertise and resources are critical to protecting both human and animal life.

Wildlife veterinarians have been actively involved in preventing, detecting, and responding to such important exotic, dangerous, and zoonotic diseases as anthrax, avian influenza, brucellosis, tuberculosis, West Nile virus, SARS, chronic wasting disease, and foot and mouth disease.

Globalization, climate change, and wildlife habitat loss and alteration, along with a growing interface among humans, livestock, and wildlife have increased the threat posed by emerging infectious diseases to humans, domestic animals, and wildlife.

According to the February 2009 report by the Government Accountability Office entitled Veterinarian Workforce: Actions Are Needed to Ensure Sufficient Capacity for Protecting Public and Animal Health, the Nation is facing a growing shortage of veterinarians, and the Federal Government may not have the necessary veterinarian workforce to control pandemic and large-scale outbreaks of disease.

There is a shortage of positions for wildlife and zoological veterinarians at the State, Federal, nonprofit, and university levels due to inadequate funding. According to the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), less than one percent of AVMA members identify themselves as wildlife or zoological veterinarians.

According to the AVMA, a growing number of students enter veterinary schools with an interest in wildlife or zoological veterinary medicine, but choose different fields of study and practice due to the small number of positions available for wildlife and zoological veterinarians upon graduation.

Veterinary students face large educational debt upon graduation. According to the AVMA, graduating student loan debt averaged $143,757 in 2016.

According to the American Association of Wildlife Veterinarians (AAWV) and National Association of Federal Veterinarians (NAFV), salaries for wildlife and zoological veterinarians are relatively low, the second-to-lowest specialty, compared to the average salaries of veterinarians in companion animal medicine. Lower salaries, combined with high educational debt and the small number of positions available in wildlife and zoological veterinary medicine, discourage students from pursuing careers in wildlife or zoological veterinary medicine.

According to the AAWV and NAFV, most schools and colleges of veterinary medicine lack both a comprehensive curriculum and sufficient numbers of formal educational programs and internships specializing in wildlife or zoological veterinary medicine to adequately prepare graduates for a competitive workplace.

According to the AVMA, while some training opportunities exist for aspiring wildlife and zoological veterinarians, such opportunities are not available each year, pay low salaries or stipends, if any, and are highly competitive.

to create new funded positions for wildlife and zoological veterinarians;

to limit the amount of educational debt for veterinary medicine students while providing incentives to study and practice wildlife or zoological veterinary medicine;

to help schools and colleges of veterinary medicine develop or improve pilot curricula specializing in wildlife and zoological veterinary medicine; and

to expand the number of training programs in wildlife or zoological veterinary medicine for veterinary students.

Accredited school or college of veterinary medicine— The term accredited school or college of veterinary medicine means an institution of higher education (as defined in section 101 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001)) that provides an educational program for which the institution awards a doctoral degree in veterinary medicine.

Doctoral degree in veterinary medicine— The term doctoral degree in veterinary medicine means a doctor of veterinary medicine or veterinary medical doctor from an accredited school or college of veterinary medicine.

Graduate degree in veterinary medicine— The term graduate degree in veterinary medicine means a master’s degree or Ph.D. in veterinary medicine or wildlife health management from an accredited school or college of veterinary medicine or a public or nonprofit department or school described in paragraph (8)(E).

Secretary— The term Secretary means the Secretary of the Interior.

State or Territory— The term State or Territory means each of the several States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the United States Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and each federally recognized Indian tribe.

Veterinary medicine— The term veterinary medicine means all branches of, and specialties included within, the practice of veterinary medicine, including—

Wildlife— The term wildlife means any member of the animal kingdom and includes mammals, fish, birds, amphibians, reptiles, mollusks, or arthropods. Such term does not include plant or plant matter or any other member of another kingdom.

Wildlife or veterinary institution— The term wildlife or veterinary institution means—

Wildlife or zoological veterinarian— The term wildlife or zoological veterinarian means an individual who has received a doctoral degree in veterinary medicine from an accredited school or college of veterinary medicine and practices veterinary medicine as applied to wildlife populations—