By Ariel Salk
BR Proud
BATON ROUGE, La (BRPROUD) – Animals, large and small, all have to see veterinarians, but according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the nation is seeing a vet shortage, even here in Louisiana.
“The pandemic made people more hyper-aware of what was going on with their animals, both large and small, and so the demand for veterinary care increased and it hadn’t maybe been there before,” said Associate Professor of Food Animal Health Maintenance, Clare Scully, MA, DVM, MS, DACT.
USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture says rural parishes are some of the areas seeing the most shortages, they are also some of the areas that rely the most on livestock.