Oral Presentation Australasian Association of Bioethics & Health Law and New Zealand Bioethics Conference

More-than-human solidarity in practice: Insights from a veterinary school about One Health and its promotion (951)

Melanie J. ROCK 1 , Chris Degeling 2 , Cindy L. Adams 3
  1. Department of Community Health Sciences, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
  2. Australian Centre for Health Engagement, Evidence, and Values, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, Australia
  3. Department of Clinical and Diagnostic Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

The partnership at the centre of this manuscript revolves around what we call ‘more-than-human solidarity.’ By this term, we mean acts that are motivated by a desire to help humans in the first instance yet also that implicate non-human beings, and vice versa. In particular, we examine a partnership between a veterinary school and a charity that exists to enhance low-income people’s physical, mental, and social well-being. Through this partnership, the charity periodically hosts free veterinary clinics. Even as the veterinarians and veterinary students duly examine people’s pets, these pop-up clinics aim to help both people and their pets -- simultaneously and symmetrically. To delve into the ethical and sociological implications of subsidized veterinary services, and to assist with program planning, we conducted several in-depth interviews with veterinarians. Based on these interviews and our own reflections, we invite more scholarship on the cultural, economic, and political influences that influence the health of both human and non-human beings.