behind the scenes of the Toulouse campus, the endearing reality of a job that makes you dream

FRANCE.TV – ON DEMAND – DOCUMENTARY SERIES

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 “vet” 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 was filmed in immersion At the vet school, the first six episodes of which are available on the France.tv site. 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 sixth and final year, and Justine, in fifth year and « jobber », that is to say employed at school – in this case 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 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 (5^e year) thus deciphers the cataract operation of Elvis, little dog ” at risk ” 13 years old. In episode 5, Jeanne (2^e year) appears determined before her first rectal palpation of a cow: like 16.3% of students, she then wishes to practice in rural areas.

Beyond the displayed “target”, discovering behind the scenes of the veterinary profession is instructive and touching for all those who have already had to have their animal treated. Students are also trained in sensitive management of owners. Which is no exception in a country where 53% of French people say they own a pet.