Let me add by saying I’ve dealt with many vets over the years and never found a dud. Any hour of the day and in all weathers, if you have an issue, they’re there.
Now we have our national media, in the current case a taxpayer funded organisation in the form of Radio NZ, promoting a non-event story about rural vets being compromised over reporting animal cruelty by farmers.
A quote from mechanical engineer and anti-Southland winter grazing campaigner Angus Robson left me stumped. Robson claimed vets were “often compromised because reporting a farmer (for animal cruelty) could affect their vet business”.
My first and honest question would be to ask how in God’s name he would know? Has he interviewed a cross section of rural vets? Has he gone into rural communities and seen for himself? Has he done any analysis of vet’s businesses?
The answer I’d suggest would be an emphatic no to all questions but he still gets headlines.
It also brings up some additional and offensive issues.
For a start, he paints vets as cowards afraid to do the right thing. Then he alludes there’s a rural mafia poised to act when someone suggests a law was broken, for whatever reason.
The simple fact is that rural communities are just as concerned about animal cruelty as anyone else, I’d suggest more so. Not that either Robson or RNZ could give a fig.
Not to be outdone, Alison Dewes rides into the fray a little like Don Quixote’s Sancho Panza.
We hear on RNZ that “a vet who is also a farmer has come out in support of claims rural vets sometimes turn a blind eye to animal welfare issues because they are scared of how their communities will react to it”.
I have several questions. For a start how does she know? As a practicing vet, did she experience the problem and, if so, where and when?
Can she also tell me a rural community who pressured both the vet and their families because of reporting cruelty?
Finally, could she outline her farming operation if she is now described as a farmer.
The reason I’m so annoyed with Robson, Dewes and RNZ is that rural communities are special. We don’t punish families for the misdeeds of a parent.
Just think about it. Rural communities have doctors. Has a doctor ever been harassed because of him or her reporting abuse?
Rural communities also have police. Will a policeperson’s family be castigated if the local cop locks an offender up?
There are also ministers and priests. Have they or their families ever been punished because they’ve reported any malfeasance?
Unsurprisingly, we also have teachers. Will a teacher’s family suffer if that teacher voices concern over a pupil’s welfare?
The answer in all cases is a resounding no as it is with vets.
Another reason I’m irritated is because no one I know of in rural NZ wants to see animal cruelty, least of all vets.
In addition, what neither Robson, Dewes or RNZ seem to realise is that vets have a strict code of conduct. They can and will be held to account if they don’t report cruelty.
In researching this article, I’ve spoken to a lot of vets and farmers.
For a start, convince me of the size of the problem. Other than a couple of high-profile cases that were prosecuted, and rightly so, there is no evidence of a major issue.
The MPI Animal Welfare and NAIT compliance reports tell me animal cruelty by farmers isn’t a major issue. Having said that, any animal cruelty is abhorrent.
Vets I’ve spoken to tell me that farmers inform them of suspected cases of animal cruelty, which they’ve handled with farmer support.
Further, if a vet see’s a problem they report it.
It is also important to acknowledge that vets are professionals with regards to animal welfare. Those driving around the provinces with cameras aren’t.
So, what’s the problem? There isn’t one.
Dewes tells us that reporting animal cruelty shouldn’t be a vet’s responsibility. One could respectfully ask why.
Vets are the experts and it’s pure rubbish to suggest they’re frightened to report an incident.
Would she prefer an army of bureaucrats consisting of 23-year-old graduates with a lifetime’s experience in animal cruelty issues driving around the provinces handing out offence notices at whim?
I can just imagine them having a ball during the Hawke’s Bay drought and exacerbating the mental health issues of the farmers there.
Finally, on the SPCA website you can read of 6500 cases of dog cruelty in urban NZ.
Maybe Robson, Dewes and RNZ could investigate that and get off their anti-farming bandwagons.
