{"id":824,"date":"2026-06-30T17:56:29","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T17:56:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.warnercnr.colostate.edu\/animalhumanpolicy\/?p=824"},"modified":"2026-06-30T17:56:31","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T17:56:31","slug":"new-study-reveals-psychological-toll-of-large-scale-animal-depopulation-on-veterinarians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.warnercnr.colostate.edu\/animalhumanpolicy\/new-study-reveals-psychological-toll-of-large-scale-animal-depopulation-on-veterinarians\/","title":{"rendered":"New Study Reveals Psychological Toll of Large-Scale Animal Depopulation on Veterinarians"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/avmajournals.avma.org\/view\/journals\/ajvr\/aop\/ajvr.26.04.0186\/ajvr.26.04.0186.xml\">A new study<\/a> published in the American Journal of Veterinary Research by <strong>AHPC Co- Directors Lori Kogan, PhD, and Rebecca Niemiec, PhD, <\/strong>examines the psychological impact of production-animal depopulation events on veterinarians. <strong>Surveying 220 licensed veterinarians<\/strong>, the study found that depopulation can impose a substantial psychological burden and highlights the close connection between animal welfare and veterinarian well-being through a One Welfare perspective.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Key Findings<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Distress differed by depopulation method. Ventilation shutdown (VSD) was the most distressing method, with 61% of veterinarians who had witnessed it rating it as very or extremely distressing. CO\u2082-based systems and water-based foam were associated with substantially lower distress.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Psychological impacts were common. Emotional numbness (31%), anger or frustration (26%), anxiety (25%), guilt or shame (25%), and difficulty sleeping (24%) were the most frequently reported responses.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Support was often lacking. Nearly two-thirds (63%) reported receiving no mental health support related to depopulation events, and 44% felt not at all or only slightly supported by their organizations.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Respondents supported improved preparedness. Ninety-one percent favored requiring large-scale facilities to maintain documented preparedness plans for more humane depopulation methods, and 74% supported policies requiring mental health support for responders.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><br>The findings suggest that improving depopulation planning requires attention to both animal welfare and responder well-being. Strengthening preparedness, expanding access to humane depopulation methods, and integrating psychological support into response planning may improve outcomes for both animals and the veterinary professionals responsible for their care.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Citation<\/strong><br>Kogan, L. R., &amp; Niemiec, R. (2026). Survey reveals psychological distress among<br>veterinarians involved in large-scale animal depopulation events. American Journal of<br>Veterinary Research. <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.2460\/ajvr.26.04.0186\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.2460\/ajvr.26.04.0186<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new study published in the American Journal of Veterinary Research by AHPC Co- Directors Lori Kogan, PhD, and Rebecca Niemiec, PhD, examines the psychological impact of production-animal depopulation events on veterinarians. Surveying 220 licensed veterinarians, the study found that depopulation can impose a substantial psychological burden and highlights the close connection between animal welfare&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":174,"featured_media":775,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[18],"class_list":["post-824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research-projects","tag-farmed-animal-welfare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.warnercnr.colostate.edu\/animalhumanpolicy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.warnercnr.colostate.edu\/animalhumanpolicy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.warnercnr.colostate.edu\/animalhumanpolicy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.warnercnr.colostate.edu\/animalhumanpolicy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/174"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.warnercnr.colostate.edu\/animalhumanpolicy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=824"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.warnercnr.colostate.edu\/animalhumanpolicy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":825,"href":"https:\/\/sites.warnercnr.colostate.edu\/animalhumanpolicy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824\/revisions\/825"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.warnercnr.colostate.edu\/animalhumanpolicy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.warnercnr.colostate.edu\/animalhumanpolicy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.warnercnr.colostate.edu\/animalhumanpolicy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.warnercnr.colostate.edu\/animalhumanpolicy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}