Make a cow swallow a magnet, wrap a cat in a “burrito”, find the jugular of a sheep or calm a snake found in the toilet… The protean reality of learning the profession of “veterinarian” goes beyond the fiction of our children’s dreams. Who, in fact, has not one day dreamed of being a veterinarian? Few actually embark on this exciting and demanding course.
The royal road then passes through the national schools of Alfort, in Val-de-Marne, (from which 17.5% of workers come) and Toulouse (17%, according to the Atlas of the Profession 2023). It was on this last campus that A l’école des vetos was filmed in immersion, the first six episodes of which are available on the France.tv website. The series, totally innovative, should quickly reach its audience – provided that they are patient during the excessively long time of online advertisements.
For a year, the cameras followed around fifteen students, such as Emma, ??in the sixth and final year, and Justine, in the fifth year and “jobiste”, that is to say employed at the school – in occurrence of bottle-feeding puppies. Marine, in her third year, lives at the school with her dog and trains him in agility (show jumping) in her little free time.
Instructive and touching
At the end of their studies, 84% of students will specialize in companion animals. However, they all study all the specialties: wildlife, equines, surgery, ophthalmology… This is how Tom, in his fourth year, finds himself milking a goat suffering from mastitis: “It’s disgusting! “, he exclaims.
Showing the reality of these future vets is what motivated the director, Hervé Corbière: “The series borrows from the codes of reality TV, but it’s not reality TV,” he explained during the launch of the series on January 8. So he banned any outside comments. During the interludes, the music is rather jazzy, and only the students speak in front of the camera to explain a treatment phase, share their joys or their hesitations.
As in any series, we find the main characters throughout the episodes. In episode 2, Alexandre (5th grade) deciphers the cataract operation on Elvis, a 13-year-old “at risk” little dog. In episode 5, Jeanne (2nd year) appears determined before her first rectal palpation of a cow: like 16.3% of students, she then wants to work in rural areas.
Beyond the displayed “target”, discovering behind the scenes of the veterinary profession proves instructive and touching for all those who have already had to have their animal treated. Students are also trained in the sensitive management of owners. Which is no exception in a country where 53% of French people say they own a pet.
