This collection of reflective, critical, philosophical, and practical chapters represents the author’s 60 years as a veterinarian, ethologist, and bioethicist. The rising incidence of zoonotic diseases from farmed animals and wildlife in the expanding human population, and so-called reverse zoonoses where humans are infecting other species, are existential concerns. These concerns are linked with anthropogenic climate change and our impact on ecosystems which threaten biodiversity and the health and future of Homo sapiens and many other species.
Les merThis collection of reflective, critical, philosophical, and practical chapters represents the author’s 60 years as a veterinarian, ethologist, and bioethicist. The rising incidence of zoonotic diseases from farmed animals and wildlife in the expanding human population, and so-called reverse zoonoses where humans are infecting other species, are existential concerns. These concerns are linked with anthropogenic climate change and our impact on ecosystems which threaten biodiversity and the health and future of Homo sapiens and many other species.
These interconnected issues are examined in this book, broadening the scope and agenda of what is currently more narrowly practiced as preventive medicine. The author calls for greater emphasis on holistic preventive healthcare maintenance in response to the escalating costs of human and companion animal health problems, the welfare of factory farmed animals, and endangered status of many wild species.
Our species now faces a complex existential crisis that must be addressed in an interdisciplinary way, because there are multiple contributing factors; factors that call for the insights of science and bioethics. Fearlessly tackling contentious issues and 'wicked problems', Dr Michael Fox offers an integrated perspective of what One Health looks like on the ground.
The author, born in England and now living in Golden Valley, Minnesota, UAS, is a graduate of the Royal Veterinary College, London, with a Ph. D degree in medicine and a Doctor of Science degree in ethology/animal behavior from the University of London, England. He is a member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons ,the British Veterinary Association, an Honor Roll Member of the American Veterinary Medical Association, a long-term member of the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association and founding member of the International Association for Applied Animal Ethology. He helped make animal behavior and animal welfare science part of the veterinary teaching curriculum around the world, and more generally awakening public sensibility through his internationally syndicated newspaper column Animal Doctor both in the U.S. and in many other countries. He has authored over 40 books, including award-winning children’s fiction. His website is www.drfoxonehealth.com.