Establishing Animal Welfare Rules of Conduct for the Portuguese Veterinary Profession—Results from a Policy Delphi with Vignettes

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Promoting animal welfare is one of the basic tenets of the veterinary profession. However, it is known that the Portuguese veterinary code of conduct, established more than 25 years ago, overlooks animal welfare and fails to address issues such as the euthanasia and humane killing of animals. Using a Policy Delphi debate technique with vignettes, this study assesses the level of agreement of forty-one (out of seventy) purposively selected Portuguese veterinarians on ten animal welfare requirements set forth in a code of professional conduct, meant to be approved in a near future. Most participants agreed that the suggested animal welfare rules of conduct reflected their own views on the subject (88%), in addition to representing a significant improvement in terms of regulatory standards (93%). This study will support regulation and policy-making by the Portuguese Veterinary Order and by veterinary representative bodies elsewhere. ABSTRACT: Promoting animal welfare is one of the basic tenets of the veterinary profession and, in doing so, veterinarians are expected to abide to the highest legal and professional standards. However, the Portuguese veterinary code of conduct, established in 1994, largely overlooks animal welfare and fails to address issues such as the euthanasia or humane killing of animals. As part of a wider research aiming to revise the Portuguese veterinary code of conduct, a Policy Delphi study was conducted in late 2018, using a pre-validated three-round structure and vignette methodology, to explore the range of opinions and the level of agreement on end-of-life dilemmas and animal welfare rules of conduct of a purposeful sample of forty-one (out of seventy) Portuguese veterinarians. When faced with ethical vignettes involving end-of-life dilemmas, veterinarians were shown to privilege personal moral agency over legal obligations in order to defend the interests of stakeholders, namely of the animals. Most participants agreed that the suggested animal welfare rules of conduct reflected their own views on the subject (88%), in addition to representing a significant improvement in terms of regulatory standards (93%). We expect that this study will support regulation and policy-making by the Portuguese Veterinary Order and by veterinary representative bodies elsewhere.