After euthanasia of Loki the dog, vets and animal groups debate putting down healthy pets
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Subsequently euthanasia of Loki the domestic dog, vets and animal groups argue putting down salubrious pets
Veterinarians say they verify the reasons given and ensure owners exhaust all alternatives, simply brute welfare groups are less convinced.
File photo of a puppy. (Photo: Unsplash/Markus Winkler)
SINGAPORE: Dr Siew Tuck Wah had waited five years for that moment.
In September 2018, the president of dog rescue charity Save Our Street Dogs (SOSD) had moved to a bigger house and this meant he could finally bring home Momo, a mixed breed that had lived in his shelter since 2013.
Momo is not any dog. As a puppy, information technology had started showing signs of aggression, like nipping at people. The problem got worse every bit it got bigger.
"When he grew up, his owners didn't right his bad behaviour," Dr Siew, an aesthetic doctor, told CNA. "Afterward that, they wanted to put him down."
Dr Siew was having none of that. He took Momo into his shelter, hoping it could one day find a new home. Chances were slim, however, and Dr Siew acknowledged that a lifetime in a shelter was not much of a life at all.
At present about seven years erstwhile, Momo stands at effectually 160cm on its hind legs, about as tall as its possessor. It has food aggression, leaps at people and bites them. It needs a big space to run around.
While Dr Siew said he is "lucky" that Momo trusts him enough non to seize with teeth him that often, he yet has to put in considerable time and endeavour to care for an aggressive adult dog. "You must be very careful," he said.
Dr Siew domestic dog proofs the business firm, separates Momo from other members of the household – including his iii other dogs – and ensures Momo eats past itself.
"When he starting time came, I had blood in the house for three months," he said. "Every day in that location would be a bite – (of a) human or another domestic dog."
When he brings Momo out, he keeps it on a literal tight ternion. "Just the other twenty-four hour period, he fought with another dog. They really pull and endeavor to run away," he added. "Information technology's very difficult to care for this kind of creature."
THE Large Contend
Just non every dog is as lucky as Momo.
Veterinarians CNA interviewed said they've put down pets, including dogs, for aggression to protect public safety, although they said this makes up a tiny minority of euthanasia cases: The vast bulk are for health reasons.
When owners ask to put down salubrious pets for aggression, the vets said they behave a thorough procedure to verify that behaviour and ensure owners have exhausted all other options, including preparation and rehoming.
Vets besides said they quiz owners on these efforts, the family's and the pet's circumstances, and might recommend medicine to suppress the aggression. They could also discover the pet's behaviour at the clinic and at home, and recommend trainers and shelters.
But animate being welfare groups are less convinced.
Canis familiaris rescue groups that CNA interviewed said while vets are the best judges of an animate being's physical country, they might be less in tune with its graphic symbol or temperament.
Some groups argued that vets, equally human being beings themselves, might pander to an owner's emotions. This is especially if, for example, the owner comes in with a snarling canis familiaris and tells a story well-nigh how information technology had bitten a kid.
That said, vets and animal groups agreed that owners are ultimately responsible for their pets, aggressive or not, with the groups saying it boils down to the corporeality of time, effort and money owners are willing to put in to salve pets' lives.
THE CASE OF LOKI
The euthanasia of healthy pets has once more been thrust into the spotlight, after a volunteer at a dog welfare grouping for Singapore Specials revealed on May 6 that i of its animals had been put down for apparent assailment.
In a Facebook postal service that has since been taken downwards, the volunteer at Exclusively Mongrels said Loki was adopted as a puppy and would accept turned three before long. He declared that Loki's owners did non seek aid from the group before putting it down.
"Veterinarians do not participate nor have influence in prior agreements fabricated betwixt a rehomer and an adopter, which is a private matter," the vet said in a statement on May 13.
READ: Instance of euthanised dog to exist investigated, AVS should be allowed to exercise its job 'without public pressure': Shanmugam
Politicians including Fellow member of Parliament (MP) and animate being activist Louis Ng have weighed in, with Mr Ng calling for new regulations on euthanasia. The Beast and Veterinarian Service (AVS), formerly known as the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authorization (AVA), has said it is investigating.
Exclusively Mongrels appear in a Facebook post on Thursday that it had on May 18 commenced legal proceedings against Loki's owner for what it said was a alienation of the adoption agreement.
WHAT THE GUIDELINES SAY
The Code of Ideals for Veterinarians states that vets must consider euthanising animals to foreclose unnnecessary suffering, but must first consider appropriate treatment options.
Equally far every bit possible, vets must get informed consent for euthanasia in writing, and may turn downwards euthanasia that isn't deemed necessary. The code, notwithstanding, does not accost the issue of putting down healthy animals.
But the Singapore Veterinary Clan (SVA), which developed the code with regulators like the former AVA, said the euthanasia guidelines too comprehend public prophylactic.
"This necessitates professional judgment by veterinarians to effectively utilise the standards, laws and ethics that govern veterinarian exercise, factoring in animal health, animal welfare, public rubber and prophylactic of the pet owners," it said in a statement on May 12.
EXHAUSTING ALL OPTIONS
Regardless of the code, Animal and Avian Veterinarian Clinic founder Dr Kenneth Tong said his squad adopts a thorough approach when an owner comes in requesting to put down his canis familiaris for aggression.
The dog, he said, volition be muzzled while its temperament is observed in the clinic and consultation room with cypher or minimal restraint. Staff will also come across how it behaves in public with other animals and people. These episodes volition be recorded.
Dr Tong, who has more than a decade of veterinarian experience, said he volition ask for documented proof of injuries or hospitalisation due to injuries caused by the dog.
Besides that, owners should provide a "consummate history" of the dog to the bespeak of aggression, including potential triggers. This depends on how thorough the owner can be.
The owner must say how he has tried to right the aggressive behaviour, including whether he has personally tried to train it or engage professional trainers, the number of trainers contacted, and the number and intensity of lessons.
With the owner's consent, Dr Tong could refer the dog to a behaviourist or trainer for further cess. If not, he volition offer some contacts.
The possessor will also be asked if he has attempted to rehome the dog, including which adoptors and shelters he'south contacted.
"The owner volition and so look into these alternatives, along with any medication, dietary changes and therapies, and take a menstruum to make up one's mind the options," Dr Tong said. "That can be days to weeks to months of trying the unlike or combination of options."
VETS LIABLE FOR PET INFLICTED INJURIES?
Dr Frederic Chua, a vet at Allpets and Aqualife Clinic with 33 years of experience, said staff could also drop by the owner's home to observe the pet in its usual environs.
The clinic puts downward three to iv animals – mostly dogs – each year for aggression, a figure he said is already considered high.
"In a sense, you lot could say we attempt to do everything and observe any excuse in order to save a pet's life," he said.
"Only we also accept to consider the other side of things. For instance, what if the pet, having gone through all these checks, retraining and treatment, continues to be a menace to the family and other other families?
"So it becomes an upstanding reason – public health, public safety. And so nosotros have to be responsible in that sense."
Dr Tong said vets must make a professional judgment on whether there is "imminent danger of injury and safety towards the family unit and public, including legal liability of the decisions made".
"If a dangerous dog were to cause life threatening injuries, or even expiry, to a child, their owner or a fellow member of the public, the vet who had refused to euthanise the animal would be considered partly responsible for these consequences," said Dr Gemma Hepner, a senior veterinary surgeon at the Animate being Practice Veterinary Clinic and Surgery.
Ultimately, Dr Tong said his last decision would consider this public health and safety risk in relation to the pet's subsequent welfare.
"Confining an fauna with limited movement surface area, chaining information technology continuously without the ability to bathe or groom it, or attend to its injuries for fright of being attacked, is in itself infringing on animal welfare," he added.
ANIMAL WELFARE GROUPS Answer
However, SOSD's Dr Siew said vets might non be the all-time people to assess an ambitious canis familiaris'southward behaviour. "Vets are good at assessing health, simply not behaviour all the time," he said.
This, he said, is further complicated by the "difficult ethical question" that vets confront: What happens to the pet if they don't agree to the owner'due south request, peculiarly as many shelters face capacity issues?
When it comes to taking in aggressive dogs not originally from their shelters, SOSD, ASD and VFA will generally propose owners to look for trainers and alternative shelters or adoptors.
"If the vets say no, then the owner might go to another vet," Dr Siew said. "Vets have taken in dogs that owners have given upwards, and are themselves under a lot of stress and emotional burden besides."
Voices for Animals (VFA) founder Derrick Tan believes an owner could notwithstanding "manipulate" a vet to put down a good for you pet for aggression despite not exhausting alternative options.
"It could be how owners had communicated with the vets, and how they had shared information with the vets," he said. "How much and how far the owner has gone, no one knows. It'south all words."
Echoing this, Action for Singapore Dogs (ASD) president Ricky Yeo said vets are likewise human beings who will react emotionally to a "snarling, growling domestic dog" in the clinic.
"And the owner just rams it into the vet's mind that this is aggressive," he said. "Then it fortifies that notion, and so the vet, maybe in a moment of emotional stress, may then take on that fateful decision to euthanise."
Dr Chua best-selling that every bit with whatsoever industry, there volition be "rotten apples". "That's what the lawmaking of ethics is for," he said. "To investigate and penalise vets, even to the extent of suspending vets."
OWNERS ULTIMATELY RESPONSIBLE
All the same, vets and brute groups concord that owners are ultimately responsible for their pets.
Dr Chua said he'south had owners who come in wanting to euthanise a domestic dog that has apparently been cared for mainly past a maid. He turned down these requests.
On the other hand, he said he's seen families where every member of the household has been bitten by their canis familiaris, but they yet beloved information technology and send it for training, despite information technology clearly not working.
"Nosotros also tried to use certain drugs as support for the training to help reduce the dog's anxiety or sedate information technology," he added. "In spite of all that, the beast is even so aggressive and cannot be handled."
READ: Making the painful decision to say goodbye to a beloved pet
Mr Yeo, a certified dog trainer who's been in the industry for 20 years, admitted that a minor handful of aggressive dogs cannot be helped equally they are genetically imbalanced, and so he wouldn't object to their euthanasia.
But he said most can run across an 80 per cent improvement in behaviour with suitable and sufficient preparation.
Still, rescue groups said owners opt for euthanasia as the cheapest and quickest option. A quick Google search showed euthanasia costs near S$200, compared to up to S$650 for 10 grooming sessions.
"Shelters can be full, but boarding places are always available," Mr Yeo said. "It's down to cost, at the end of the day. If the family'southward mind has been swayed, they don't want the dog anymore. They'll be looking for all sorts of excuses."
Then once again, SOSD'southward Dr Siew accepts that owners might cull not to become in touch with creature welfare groups for fear of existence scolded or harshly judged.
"Those worries are non unfounded," he said, noting that animal lovers will get aroused with owners who want to requite their dogs away for frivolous reasons. "In that location are some groups that are more outspoken, they tend to go online and say a lot of things."
ONLINE VITRIOL
Loki's case is no exception.
After the rescue group went public with it, some netizens blasted the Mountain Pleasant vet on Facebook, with scathing comments similar Loki's blood is on their hands, or that they're just doing it for the coin.
Ane commentor wished grave harm upon their children.
In a Facebook post on May xiii, Police and Habitation Affairs Minister M Shanmugam waded into the issue, proverb it is unfortunate that some were coming to conclusions and questioning the vet's professionalism without all the facts.
"I call back many who expressed their views, were genuinely upset, and may not have considered the effect their cyber comments may accept on the targets," wrote the government minister, known to be an brute lover.
READ: 'I cried every day': Why Singapore'due south vets might be depressed
The vets and rescue groups agreed that these types of comments are uncalled for.
Creature and Avian Veterinary Dispensary'due south Dr Tong said vets are already devastated about putting down an fauna, only are not able to show these emotions to announced potent for owners.
"A proportion of mental stress arises from what veterinarians recall volition exist the public perception of them conveying out and suggesting such acts, without complete knowledge of the reasons behind it," he added.
"Having no avenue to clarify due to client-patient confidentiality, and the privacy or sensitivity offered to the grieving family, leaves veterinarians in an empty void all lonely."
Over the years, numerous studies across the world show higher rates of mental illness and suicide among veterinarians, sometimes upward to four times that of the general population.
Dr Kevin Polglaze, chief veterinary surgeon at the Beast Practice Veterinary Clinic and Surgery, said vets similar and respect animals, piece of work long hours with disrupted balance, and earn less far less than doctors and dentists.
"Public abuse is all it takes to trip a vet to leave the profession, and in some cases take their life," he said.
BAD FOR EVERYONE
SOSD's Dr Siew said this "lynching of vets" volition just be bad for animal welfare equally vets go "very scared" of working with brute groups.
While ASD'southward Mr Yeo said social media can exist used to apply the "correct kind of pressure", he agreed that personal attacks hateful no good will come out of the episode.
"Personal hateful comments just encourage more people to become a mob, and and so in the end, the parties involved become very defensive," he added.
Instead, the rescue groups believe such matters should be settled calmly and maturely, with the cease outcome being a button for alter. In this example, information technology's a revised euthanasia protocol.
Mr Yeo would know. He said he had tried to train a vii-month-sometime adopted puppy, Tammy, that was eventually put downwards in 2022 due to assailment, sparking similar public outcry after a rescuer had offered to take it back.
The then-AVA, laying out its investigations, clarified that the vet had followed protocol and that the decision was ultimately the responsibility and right of the pet owner.
The five-month saga was only resolved after lawyers for the owner and rescuer met and issued a articulation statement saying their clients agreed that rehoming Tammy would have been the improve option.
While the rescuer remembered telling the owner she was finding Tammy a suitable boarding place with the intention of finding it a new habitation, the owner said she remembered the probable outcome for Tammy was a long-term boarding identify – something she did non consider humane.
NEW RULES ON EUTHANASIA?
Following the incident, Mr Yeo said he and other animal welfare groups submitted a revised euthanasia protocol to the SVA for discussion with the then-AVA. While nothing has materialised until now, he is hopeful the Loki incident will put it back on the agenda.
He suggested that owners must prove proof that an ambitious pet cannot be trained or rehomed, and vets go through a mandatory seven-day "cooling off period" for owners to reconsider their determination or rehome the fauna.
The vets said they are wary of new regulations, pointing out these could be too prescriptive and rigid for a complex issue with many factors, and nuanced cases that need to exist assessed individually.
Dr Tong, nonetheless, welcomed a revision of the ethics code to include guidelines that "empower the veterinarian to confidently carry out his or her decision in declining, offer alternatives or reaffirming euthanasia based on sound judgement without fear, pressure level or ambiguity".
VFA'south Mr Tan said he wouldn't question vets' professionalism, stating that they "go to schoolhouse not to acquire nigh euthanasia, but to help animals".
"There are no bad dogs, only bad owners," he added.
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