Document type : news item from Le Point Vétérinaire
Author : AMAH
Preview: The French Association contre la Maltraitance Animale et Humaine (AMAH) has provided veterinarians and their teams with a guide to better understand and deal with animal and human abuse, offering practical and legal advice.
The AMAH has translated the Links Group and Animal Welfare Foundation guide, "Recognising abuse in animals and humans - Comprehensive guidance for the veterinary team", and adapted it to the French regulatory framework. This AMAH guide can be downloaded using this link.
Very often, violence against animals and humans is linked. This link has been studied and addressed for many years in English-speaking countries. The AMAH guide, Repérer les signes de maltraitance chez les animaux et les humains, describes the different types of abuse and their links, based in particular on international publications.
A practical and necessary tool
Animal abuse affects all categories of animals (livestock, companion animals, wild animals) and has a variety of clinical indicators. Understanding the different forms of violence and their mechanisms enables veterinary teams to be aware of the signs, to integrate abuse into their diagnosis and to deal with it effectively.
The guide provides practical tools to help distinguish between non-accidental and accidental trauma, including a veterinary certificate with explanatory details. Using the Ask Validate Document Refer (AVDR) protocol, veterinarians and their teams are guided through a decision-making process to identify, confirm and report suspected abuse.
We should remember that the law already authorises any veterinarian to dispense with professional confidentiality in the event of violence against a minor or a protected adult (Article 226-14 of the Penal Code). With regard to animal abuse, the proposed law against animal abuse, which is currently being scrutinised by the French parliament, should reinforce the dispensation from confidentiality that is already in effect for veterinary surgeons with regard to reporting to their supervisory authorities.
Like doctors and other health professionals, veterinarians must consider abuse and domestic violence in their diagnosis during visits to deal with biting (the animal may be a victim driven to self-defence), where trauma has occurred (by determining whether it is accidental or not), and when they encounter the physical or emotional suffering of an animal. In this way, all veterinarians and their teams will be able to assume fully their mission to protect not only animals but also humans, since the two forms of violence can often be one and the same within a single household.
