{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,14]],"date-time":"2026-04-14T22:15:31Z","timestamp":1776204931953,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":35,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,9,8]],"date-time":"2020-09-08T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1599523200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Funda\u00e7\u00e3o para a Ci\u00eancia e Tecnologia","award":["SFRH\/BPD\/117693\/2016"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["SFRH\/BPD\/117693\/2016"]}]},{"name":"Funda\u00e7\u00e3o para a Ci\u00eancia e Tecnologia","award":["Project UID\/CVT\/00276\/2020"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["Project UID\/CVT\/00276\/2020"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Animals"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Promoting animal welfare is one of the basic tenets of the veterinary profession and, in doing so, veterinarians are expected to abide to the highest legal and professional standards. However, the Portuguese veterinary code of conduct, established in 1994, largely overlooks animal welfare and fails to address issues such as the euthanasia or humane killing of animals. As part of a wider research aiming to revise the Portuguese veterinary code of conduct, a Policy Delphi study was conducted in late 2018, using a pre-validated three-round structure and vignette methodology, to explore the range of opinions and the level of agreement on end-of-life dilemmas and animal welfare rules of conduct of a purposeful sample of forty-one (out of seventy) Portuguese veterinarians. When faced with ethical vignettes involving end-of-life dilemmas, veterinarians were shown to privilege personal moral agency over legal obligations in order to defend the interests of stakeholders, namely of the animals. Most participants agreed that the suggested animal welfare rules of conduct reflected their own views on the subject (88%), in addition to representing a significant improvement in terms of regulatory standards (93%). We expect that this study will support regulation and policy-making by the Portuguese Veterinary Order and by veterinary representative bodies elsewhere.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ani10091596","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,9,8]],"date-time":"2020-09-08T09:03:48Z","timestamp":1599555828000},"page":"1596","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Establishing Animal Welfare Rules of Conduct for the Portuguese Veterinary Profession\u2014Results from a Policy Delphi with Vignettes"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"10","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8317-3633","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Manuel","family":"Magalh\u00e3es-Sant'Ana","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"CIISA\u2014Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Animal Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Lisbon, 1300-477 Lisboa, Portugal"},{"name":"Ordem dos M\u00e9dicos Veterin\u00e1rios, Av. Filipe Folque, 10J, 4\u00ba Dto., 1050-113 Lisboa, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Maria Concei\u00e7\u00e3o","family":"Peleteiro","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CIISA\u2014Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Animal Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Lisbon, 1300-477 Lisboa, Portugal"},{"name":"Ordem dos M\u00e9dicos Veterin\u00e1rios, Av. Filipe Folque, 10J, 4\u00ba Dto., 1050-113 Lisboa, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3733-3223","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"George","family":"Stilwell","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CIISA\u2014Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Animal Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Lisbon, 1300-477 Lisboa, Portugal"},{"name":"Ordem dos M\u00e9dicos Veterin\u00e1rios, Av. Filipe Folque, 10J, 4\u00ba Dto., 1050-113 Lisboa, Portugal"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,9,8]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"De Briyne, N., Vidovi\u0107, J., Morton, D.B., and Magalh\u00e3es-Sant\u2019Ana, M. (2020). Evolution of the teaching of animal welfare science, ethics and law in European veterinary schools (2012\u20132019). Animals, 10.","DOI":"10.3390\/ani10071238"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"654","DOI":"10.1136\/vr.103005","article-title":"What do European veterinary codes of conduct actually say and mean? A case study approach","volume":"176","author":"More","year":"2015","journal-title":"Vet. Rec."},{"key":"ref_3","unstructured":"Stassen, E.N., and Meijboom, F.L.B. (2016). 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