I currently am attending a veterinary conference in southern California. (Which, by the way, is why I haven’t posted for a couple of days. The Marriott keeps a stranglehold on internet access.)

In this morning’s lecture, the speaker discussed a case in which he had treated the victim of a botched debarking surgery. He spent several minutes reminding the audience that veterinarians have no business performing surgery on the vocal cords of dogs unless there is a medical reason. He then queried the audience to find out how many of us have performed the procedure.

I admit that people may have been reluctant go confess to the procedure after the speaker’s rampage against it. But can you guess how many people, out of a group of perhaps 100 veterinarians, raised their hands?

None.

I recently wrote about a Massachusetts teen who is working to make debarking surgeries illegal in his state. I’m fine with that, but I don’t think it will be necessary in the long run. Soon there will be no debarked dogs simply because no vets will be willing or able to perform the surgery.