Veterinarian Shortage in U.S. Government to Fight Diseases

[Supine]

Full story: Wave of Federal Retirees to Hit Government - Yahoo! Finance

The U.S. government could soon be facing a shortage of workers.

Some 30% of the federal workforce will be eligible to retire in the next three years, according to a Government Accountability Office report.

"We're seeing this massive brain drain as thousands of workers leave the federal workforce, and it's leading to a huge loss of knowledge and expertise," said William Dougan, president of the National Federation of Federal Employees.

At least three USDA agencies are struggling to fill positions left by outgoing vets since federal budget cuts took hold, Gilsdorf said. That has shrunk the number of "deployable" veterinarians, who can respond to an animal disease outbreak from 1,000 vets last year, to about 250 now.

A federal advisory panel has warned there aren't enough federal veterinarians to contain a massive multi-state outbreak of foot and mouth disease, a highly contagious animal disease which strikes cows, goats and pigs.

"Our capacity to respond to a disease outbreak has hit a critical stage," said Gilsdorf...

I know veterinarians don't usually carry the prestige as M.D.'s and veterinarians aren't always as well compensated for their years of education and knowledge of science and application of that science as it intersects between animals and humans. But this might not be a bad field for some in the undergrad sciences to consider going into for graduate level professional schooling.