Jonathan Ebel, a historian who leads the university’s religion department, and Dr. Yvette Johnson-Walker, a veterinary epidemiologist, led the class. Intrigued by the possibility of creating a course that would blend their two fields, they developed a new syllabus last summer. With some support from the university’s diversity and inclusion office and curriculum guidance from IFYC, Ebel and Dr. Johnson-Walker debuted Veterinary Medicine 694: Religious Perspectives on Caring for Animals. As far as Dr. Johnson-Walker knows, the class is the only one like it at a veterinary school.
“One of the things I really like about this issue is it cuts across whether you’re working with companion animals or food animals or even in public health,” Dr. Johnson-Walker said.
What does religion have to do with veterinary medicine? Quite a lot, it turns out.
Students learned about how different cultures and religions think about death and euthanasia, burial practices, animal ownership, technology and medical intervention, and ethics around slaughtering and eating animals.
Students studied “ethics from a Jain perspective or a Buddhist perspective of euthanizing a pet,” for example, Ebel said. “Surprising to all of us, one of the students brought up the emotional and spiritual (impact) on veterinarians themselves of the routinized euthanasia.” They discussed what veterinarians might do to help each other bear those emotional burdens.
“It’s gone better than we ever imagined. Some of that are these sorts of hidden connections and resonances that you don’t know are there until you start teaching,” Ebel said.
“It definitely opened up my eyes,” said Mariah Miller, a third-year veterinary student who hopes to move to the Chicago area after she graduates and work in a practice that cares for cats, dogs and other small animals. “Every time I go to class, it feels like therapy session. We’re all talking about such deep things, and I kind of love it.”