I recently spoke to a full house at the University of Pennsylvania Law School in Philadelphia.  I love history, and Philadelphia, home of the Liberty Bell and birth place of the Declaration of Independence, is still rich with the revolutionary spirit that launched the fledgling United States in 1776.

In my presentation, I discuss how bad has become “normal” on modern farms, and how this is enabled in part by the desensitization of young veterinary students and others during the education process.  After my talk, two veterinary students came over to me to explain how their training was serving to harden students’ hearts to animal suffering.  It will be a good day when medical and veterinary schools preparing students for service decide to put more emphasis on compassion and techniques to prevent illness, rather than on techniques to treat preventable diseases.