Schaumburg, IL — At the 146th Annual Convention of the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), association leaders welcomed a new president and took action on animal welfare and antimicrobial policies as well as cost cutting measures.
In his speech before the full AVMA House of Delegates (AVMA-HOD) on Friday, July 10, incoming AVMA President Larry R. Corry, DVM, pointed out that the financial collapse of the past year has had an impact on the association. But, nonetheless, association leaders passed tough budgeting measures to ensure that dues were not raised on veterinarians.
“Financially speaking, to say the past year has been a challenging one would be an understatement. As we met last year in New Orleans at our last convention, who could have imagined the tempestuous times ahead?” Dr. Corry said in his speech before his colleagues. “Like the residents of that great city when they faced Hurricane Katrina, we found ourselves thinking ‘it can’t get any worse.’ But it did, and even though things seem to be bottoming out, we, like many other organizations, had to tighten our belts and revise our plans.”
The House of Delegates moved to make sure that the association didn’t pass any of this financial difficulty on to its members and volunteer leaders. Dr. Bret D. Marsh, AVMA treasurer, explained that this would not be a good year to raise dues because veterinarians are already being forced to tighten their belts.
Furthermore, the AVMA-HOD approved spending $175,000 from the AVMA reserves to reimburse delegates and alternative delegates for travel expenses to twice-annual meetings at 2009 levels, ensuring that AVMA volunteer leaders are also not unduly burdened during this recession.
The AVMA-HOD also voted to sunset its Council on Communications. AVMA-HOD documents project a financial savings from this move at $9,000 for 2009, $11,000 in 2010, and up to $23,000 a year in subsequent years. Much of this cost savings comes from the travel expenses that the 10-member, volunteer board incurred traveling to meetings twice a year.
The AVMA-HOD voted with a resounding 73.2 percent in favor of keeping its new standards on tail docking and ear cropping. These new standards were passed by the AVMA Executive Board last year. The policy states: “The AVMA opposes ear cropping and tail docking of dogs when done solely for cosmetic purposes. The AVMA encourages the elimination of ear cropping and tail docking from breed standards.”
In other actions, the AVMA-HOD voted 84.4 percent to 14.6 percent to recommend that the Executive Board convene a multidisciplinary body review the AVMA’s Judicious Therapeutic Use of Antimicrobials Policy; and voted with 93.1 percent in the affirmative to add representation from the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians to the AVMA House Advisory Panel.
For more information, please visit www.avma.org.
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The AVMA and its more than 78,000 member veterinarians are engaged in a wide variety of activities dedicated to advancing the science and art of animal, human and public health. Visit the AVMA Web site at www.avma.org for more information.
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