Culling dogs to control rabies in Uganda – an example of moral distress for a veterinary officer

Abstract

Domestic dogs are the main source of human rabies deaths – approximately 60,000 annually occurring mostly in Africa and Asia. The World Health Organisation and its partners declared “zero human deaths due to canine rabies by 2030” as a strategic goal. In the context of rabies control, an ethical case scenario from the perspective of a veterinary officer in Uganda is presented. A practice-oriented tool, Ropohl’s responsibility checklist, is applied to structure the individual responsibility of the veterinary officer according to the six core questions. This ethical deliberation was performed in a workshop following a participatory approach. Based on the ethical deliberation it becomes evident, that the case scenario could be potentially described by moral distress. We suggest that a better understanding of personal responsibility, including its extent and its limits, would help veterinary officers to better cope with difficult and challenging situations.