01/11/2025
😢
This week, I was told a story about a young woman doing work experience in the Lost Dogs Home recently.
She is training to be a vet nurse.
Compassionate and kind, her ideal career is to work with people helping animals. So let me tell you her story.
In the Lost Dogs Home the vet was aborting a mother cat of four kittens. A vet nurse was present, monitoring the anaesthetic and an assistant nurse along with the student. The cat’s paperwork wrote that she was ‘possibly pregnant’ and she definitely was.
The kittens were removed, and placed in a surgery bucket, a round large shallow dish, after, the uterus was clamped and sutured.
The nurse then inquired of the vet if the foetuses would die when disconnected from the mother. He replied, “Yeah they will be going to heaven” and confirmed when asked, that Lethobarb would not be used.
The kittens were left to suffocate in their amniotic sacs moving around within without any euthanasia drug.
They were then placed in a biohazard bag ready to be disposed off.
I would like to note here - the kittens had fur, and were moving. And were observed in the bucket by both nurse and student.
I don’t know if I could have been more angry and upset than I was when I was told her story.
Yes it is a Breach of the Code for Pounds and shelters. All animals that are to die - are to be given an overdose of Lethobarb. You do not pick and chose how old a foetus is - it is, as a Vet - a part of your training to learn to euthanise animals in a humane manner.
This - is NOT happening in the Lost Dogs Home.
The Duty of Care for this young girl to be placed in such a disgusting, immoral and horrific circumstance, seeing kittens suffocate is unacceptable. It has been sent to the Animal Justice Party and I hope to the Minister.
The young girl has been utterly brave about speaking out, signing a Statutory Declaration, and I hope she will receive Counselling in the coming days.
She has witnessed something no one should ever have to see.
Since speaking to the student, I have had two more people, ex staff, one a nurse, come forward, saying this is standard practice in the shelter. How multiple abortions are done on cats, even those full term, and only one Vet was noted at any time, (ONE VET!) is following procedure and using lethobarb on all foetus.
I know this is going to upset many of you.
It has been a long and quite frankly viscerally upsetting week for the student, her family, and me.
The LDH needs a full investigation. This needs to be public, this needs to be told far and wide. These people need to resign, and Management need to be held accountable for their failures and sacked by the Board. All of them.
It is time. While we have kitten season flooding our Rescues and Shelters there is no need to allow an animal to suffocate. Never, ever, allow it to just…..die.
That is never alright. It is morally corrupt, and quite frankly illegal from a Veterinary perspective. And the Lost Dogs Home Management have allowed this to be a part of their practice, FOR YEARS.
I say, enough.
I hope, by this young lady coming forward, you will understand how important her story is. How we must stop the suffering and unnecessary killing practices within the Lost Dogs Home.
Killing, is killing. Let’s call it what it is.
