Between cooperation and competition: insights into the relationships between animal advocates and veterinarians in France from the nineteenth century to the present day

This review essay examines relationships between animal advocates and veterinarians in France from the nineteenth century onwards. Due to their role as activists or professionals, they are studied independently of each other. Despite the disagreements that may have arisen between them, both groups claim to have animals’ interests at heart and share many common concerns regarding the animal condition. Based on a secondary analysis of the literature on animal advocates and veterinarians, we examine the existence and form of relationships between these two social groups. We identify four types of intersection that allow us to account for the existence of multiple relationships between animal advocates and veterinarians. The initial understanding between animal advocates and veterinarians in the middle of the nineteenth century gave way to a situation of conflict and competition beginning at the end of the nineteenth century. In the middle of the twentieth century, renewed debates on the animal condition and animal husbandry gave rise to the development of ambiguous relationships between veterinarians concerned about health issues and animal advocates who were divided into “welfarists” and “animal rights advocates”. In this respect, the discovery of the intersecting history of animal advocates and veterinarians emphasises the multi-dimensional nature of their relationships, which has fluctuated between cooperation and competition.