BLACK LIVES MATTER. We have work to do, and we are committed to doing that work.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison Shelter Medicine Program and the University of California-Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program stand in solidarity in the fight against systemic oppression in our country. We share the heartbreak and anger sparked by the murder of George Floyd. We abhor the violence directed against Black, Indigenous, and other people of color that happens every single day, and the other forms of oppression that seep into everyday interactions in universities and animal shelters as they do anywhere else.
We also honor the deep commitment to caring and compassion expressed by so many in the animal welfare and veterinary professions. To be part of the solution to the violence and racism that threaten our society is a natural expression of that caring. At the same time, we recognize that inequality is embedded in our field as it is throughout our society. People of color disproportionately perform the hardest and lowest paid work in many shelters, and marginalized communities bear the brunt of animal management practices that perpetuate systemic inequalities.
As individuals, many of us have protested policies and practices we don’t agree with and advocated for a more just and kind society. The size and passion of the protests that have erupted in the wake of George Floyd’s murder may be a once-in-a-generation moment to affect change collectively.
We have work to do, and we are committed to doing that work. Read the full statement of our commitments here.