The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

SIX days after a pregnant pit bull dog named Whitehead died as a result of an illegal caesarian performed by a street vet in Grand Bahama it has been discovered that none of her eight puppies have been able to survive without their mother.

The tragic incident highlights the concerns of the Veterinary Medical Association of illegal medical procedures and animal vaccinations being performed by lay people in The Bahamas.

Veterinarian Dr Pedro Davis, president of the Veterinary Medical Association in New Providence, condemned the incident that occurred last week and said his association expects to meet with the Veterinary Board - the governing body in the Bahamas - to discuss this latest incident and few others that have come to their attention.

The story of Whitehead, a four-year-old pit bull terrier, and her puppies, was first made public on the Freeport Vet Hospital Facebook page last Thursday.

Local veterinarian Dr Chante Wildgoose, of Freeport Vet Hospital, said the dog’s owner, who is a client of theirs, had left Whitehead in the care of someone while he was away. The caretaker contacted a “street vet” who deemed the dog was breached and performed a caesarian without any anaesthesia.

She said the mother was butchered and bled to death at the hands of a non-vet “playing doctor” who was not qualified or licensed to conduct a surgical procedure on animals.

As newborn puppies are very fragile and highly dependent on their mother for warmth and nutrition, the orphaned puppies started dying one by one in the absence of proper nursing.

Dr Davis told The Tribune that proper monitoring is needed to address such incidents. “Incidents like this point out the lack of monitoring that exists in The Bahamas,” he said.

”We’ve had incidents with dog ear cropping and other cases where people take their animals to lay people to have vaccinations done.”

He noted that in most cases the animals are not adequately evaluated before procedures are done by rogue vets, and there can be unfortunate outcomes for the animal.

“These persons are not trained, licensed or qualified to do any vet procedure. And so our stance is that we condemn incidences like this, and try to educate the public of how they should properly take their animals to a local Vet for care.”

Dr Davis said the Veterinary Medical Association is moving to have their issues addressed.

“We have drafted a letter to the Veterinary Board to have a meeting as soon as possible with them. They are the governing body, and they are supposed to police this profession.

“Anything that happens we are supposed to report it and present it to Board, which we did. We want to get them to deal with this incident and a few other incidents.”

According to Dr Davis, the laws concerning the veterinary field are very old and holds the veterinary profession back.

“We are still governed by laws that are archaic. We have been trying since 2008 to get a new Act passed to put the profession in the hands of the Association and Veterinarians so that we could police it properly. As it stands, the law only allows Vets to make reports to the Veterinary Board,” he said.