Atlantic Veterinary College ends program that provides care for N.B. horses

Horse owners in New Brunswick are asking what’s next after the Atlantic Veterinary College ended a program that saw vets visit farms in the province.

The college, located in Prince Edward Island, had an agreement with the New Brunswick government to provide specialized care to horses in the province since 2016.

Nicole Jewett, with the New Brunswick Veterinary Medical Association, said “we do have a pretty critical need for large animal veterinarians.”

Elisha Dickinson-Mills, owner of Dickinson and Baird Veterinary hospital in Saint John, said she will be unable to take over any of the college’s cases because her caseload is already very high.

Deanna Phelan, the president of the New Brunswick Equestrian Association, said the province used to have an equine specialist in Fredericton, but the area has been without one since they retired in 2016.

“They decided to go with this Band-Aid approach of having P.E.I. vets come once a month, which has been great,” said Phelan.

“We’ve enjoyed that service for almost 10 years and now that’s gone.”

Why college shut down program

Apryl Munro, a spokesperson for the college, said stretched resources means it had to pull out of the agreement, at least temporarily.

“The circumstances have changed since 2016, and while the agreement was a success, the resources at the AVC have been significantly stretched, which has prompted this temporary pause on the … service in New Brunswick,” said Munro in an emailed statement to CBC News.

The college said they will help current clients by working with New Brunswick vets and said clients can take their horses to the teaching hospital in Charlottetown for treatment.

Stable owner Jennifer MacPherson said that’s not always feasible, especially when a horse is too sick to travel or when the Confederation Bridge is closed because of wind, a common occurrence in the winter.

While horse owners have access to provincial vets and private vets, that isn’t enough, according to MacPherson.

“For example, I had some dental work that had to be done on a horse last year that I had to get the AVC out because it was a little bit more complicated than just regular routine dental work,” said MacPherson.

MacPherson said the province’s growing population has also had an impact on the availability of vets.

“We’ve had a couple of horse farms come into the province,” said MacPherson.

“Some of them didn’t have a vet — just like getting a doctor — but they don’t have a hospital that they can go to.”

Province responds

Phelan said she has questions for the province.

“I’d like to know what the government is doing to attract private vets to come to the capital city,” said Phelan.

“They’re going to Moncton and Saint John and Sussex, but there must be a reason they’re not coming to Fredericton, the Greater Fredericton Area.”

Nick Brown, spokesperson for the Department of Agriculture, Aquaculture and Fisheries, said attracting new vets to the province is a priority, but one that is shared by other jurisdictions.

“The shortage of veterinarians is not unique to New Brunswick and is a challenge throughout Canada and Globally,” he said in an emailed statement to CBC.