Poor pay, a lack of work‑life balance and pollution are driving veterinarians out of rural Spain, despite a desperate need for oversight in the livestock industry.
Vets in Hungary, Slovakia and Lithuania – the 17th, 18th and 23rd European economies respectively – earn more than their Spanish counterparts. The figures come from a survey carried out by the Federation of European Veterinarians (FVE), which shows that the median salary of the 266 voluntary participants amounts to around €26,400 per year.
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These are, however, far more optimistic figures than those set out in the collective agreement covering these workers in Spain. For positions such as laboratory technician, the agreement provides for pay of just €19,403 a year, not including supplements.
In addition, 60 per cent of Spanish veterinarians who have moved to other countries say they did so to improve their working conditions, according to the study, whose respondents report working around eight hours of overtime a month, a little more than two percentage points above the European Union average.
Rural Spain struggles with a shortage of veterinarians
The working conditions of these professionals could help explain part of the picture for this sector in rural areas. During a working meeting held in Rovaniemi, Finland, as part of the FVE General Assembly, the Spanish Veterinary Organisation (OCV) presented a paper titled 'The Spanish challenge: what works and what fails in rural practice', detailing the consequences of this structural shortfall.
"As there are fewer and fewer of us, colleagues face a heavier workload, they have to visit more farms and drive more kilometres every day. These are very tough conditions, which make generational renewal difficult, and we also need to look at profitability," says the president of the OCV, Gonzalo Moreno.
It's yet another symptom of Spain's depopulated heartland: vast stretches of land where demographics, in some areas, are comparable to Finnish Lapland.
This has direct consequences for the economy, especially in regions such as Castilla y León or Aragón. Spain currently ranks as the European Union's leading livestock producer, with more than five million tonnes exported annually and 26 per cent of total EU output, ahead of Germany.
The slaughterhouse association Amacyl, based in Castilla y León, calculates that the lack of sufficient veterinarians leads to working hours being cut by up to 45 per cent in such facilities, as well as in adjacent industries such as dairy production.
Animal rights abuses proliferate with lack of oversight
But the absence of professional oversight does not only have consequences for businesses and the sector. Spanish newspaper elDiario.es reported this week that proceedings have been opened against the Vicente de Lucas Fuentetaja abattoir, just a few minutes from Segovia, after it slaughtered 200 young deer that were living crammed together in conditions of evident fear and stress. It has been established that the animals remained alive for minutes after being shot at the moment of slaughter.
Earlier this year, the organisation ARDE denounced the state of a mega pig farm in Castellote (Teruel), where several animals were fatally injured and living alongside decomposing carcasses inside the facilities.
Other platforms such as Ecologistas en Acción have warned that, paradoxically, the proliferation of these large livestock operations jeopardises efforts to repopulate these areas because of the pollution they generate and, therefore, the arrival of new veterinary professionals.
The OCV also highlights another paradox in Spain. Despite having the widest veterinary training offer in the EU – 15 faculties and counting, with a new one planned by the University of Salamanca – a large share of graduates do not want to, or cannot, work in rural areas. It is estimated that 35 per cent of graduates pursue their careers outside the country.
