World Veterinary Year

I'm sure most of you don't know that this year marks the 250th year of veterinary medicine. Of course animals were likely treated for diseases well before this, but this year marks the anniversary of the founding of the first veterinary school in the world - Lyon, France.

Here's a quick bit from the AVMA website:

Veterinary medicine celebrates its 250^thbirthday!

Animal diseases and their treatment have played critical roles throughout history, with the earliest known documentation as long ago as 1900 B.C. The word "veterinarian" came into use in the mid-1600s, but veterinarians back then were trained by shadowing other veterinarians and learning by "trial and error," and there was no formalized education for veterinarians...that is, until the world's first veterinary school was founded in Lyon, France in 1761, revolutionizing the profession. In fact, many consider the year 1761 to be the true birth of the veterinary profession.

Since that time, veterinary medicine has rapidly evolved. The year 2011, or "Vet2011" as we call it, marks the 250^thanniversary of the first school dedicated to veterinary medical education and the birth of the veterinary credentialed profession — a celebration of two and a half centuries of protecting and preserving animal health, human health, and ecosystem health.

We have certainly come a long way in our ability to detect and cure disease and protect public health and I, for one, am very proud to be a member of this profession!