Alaska and North Dakota try to lure veterinarians to remote rural outposts with different bait

Rural and remote areas in the U.S. struggle with lack of veterinary care because most vets would rather work in large cities with small animal practices. Two states are trying to deal with this issue in two very different ways.

Alaskan lawmakers are considering a bill that would allow out-of-state veterinarians to practice free of charge in remote regions of the state where there aren't any vets, Jill Burke of the Alaska Dispatch reports (photo by Burke). A previous bill would have allowed in-state vets to travel to rural places to deliver care, but in-state vets were opposed. Burke reports vets from outside the state are "convinced that Alaska's villages desperately need vet care and that someone should step up and deliver it." But some officials and vets inside the state say volunteer vets could provide substandard care without state oversight.

In North Dakota, a tuition loan repayment program is luring large-animal vets to rural areas who have previously stayed in cities to work at small animal clinics, which are more profitable and popular, Cliff Naylor of KFYR-TV in Bismarck, N.D., reports. The program reimburses students up to $80,000 of tuition costs if they work three years in a rural clinic. Veterinary school graduate Marie Henderson said she had $140,000 in student loan debt when she graduated and headed straight to North Dakota to take advantage of the program. It's allowing her to continue working with large animals, something she said most graduates don't do because of the debt they incur. (Read more)