Euthanasia of surplus animals – is this within the core values of our profession?

As a young girl developing my interest in veterinary medicine, I quickly realised that my love of animals contradicted my lifestyle. I was surrounded with animal products that required animals to die for my habits — from the food that I ate, to leather for my saddle. The animals I was using most certainly would not have chosen to die, had they been able to choose. As I began working in veterinary practices, it became that much harder as I fought to save lives each day. As a result, I decided that I had to choose one way or another. Either I am an animal advocate, or I am not. There is no middle ground. I couldn't nurse a cat from the brink of death after being hit by a car only to then watch a healthy lamb get slaughtered when we were perfectly capable of surviving without its meat. Many years later, societal pressures place me somewhere in the middle again, but I often struggle with this issue, especially when heated stories come up in the news.