The impact of depopulation incidents on employee mental health can’t be discussed enough, says veterinarian Randy Jones with Four Star Veterinary Service.
“There’s a big difference for the people who work in the barn. We see it in disease outbreaks domestically when workers experience a lot of death loss and down production. This would be even bigger — along with the financial part of it,” Jones says.
The majority of the participants involved in a recent foreign animal disease exercise hosted by National Pork Board agreed the depopulation methods demonstrated were better than they expected. Seeing the methods helped put their mind at ease that they were humane.
“Just because something is sad doesn’t mean it’s wrong,” explains Elizabeth Strand, founding director of the Center for Veterinary Social Work at the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine. “Natural sadness about complex issues like depopulation can become suppressed to protect ourselves from others’ misunderstanding about this part of food animal stewardship.”
Strand developed an animal depopulation five-step resiliency check-in tool to help caregivers process feelings about depopulation. She took part in the exercise and was available for people to talk to about their feelings.
“In my experience, listening to depopulation stories, people feel like they are in a war zone. There is training for soldiers to increase their resilience to prepare for war. We need tools to help our producers and caregivers prepare for a worst-case scenario, too,” Strand says.
She also thinks it is important to create opportunities for people to help each other. That’s why she created this tool to spur conversations.
“Conversations are critical so people can get out some of the thoughts in their minds about what they experienced so it’s not a mystery black box,” she adds. “Every person here cares deeply and I worry that some people outside the pork industry may not recognize that. Participating in this exercise and seeing that deep care among these participants makes me grieve that even more.”
Click here to access the animal depopulation five-step resiliency check-in tool.
Read More:
It’s Time to Talk About Depopulation in the U.S. Swine Industry
Water-Based Foam Shows Promise as a Method for Swine Depopulation
