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After Being Caught on Tape Abusing Animals, Vet’s Suspension Ends After Six Months

The community of St. Catharines, in Ontario, Canada is shocked and appalled that a veterinarian, caught on tape abusing animals in his practice, has been allowed to come back to work. The Skyway Animal Hospital’s owner, and lead veterinarian, Mahavir Singh Rekhi, DVM, was suspended, but allowed to return to work. He was suspended by the College of Veterinarians of Ontario, after four different employees filed abuse complaints about how he treated the animals.

One employee said that he “improperly handled or restrained and/or mistreated, struck or abused animals in his care“.

That same employee also included video evidence of the veterinarian abusing his patients. There were several statements made about what misconduct the veterinarian participated in, including, grabbing a Chihuahua by the throat and punching him in the face, as well as hitting a sedated husky in the face during a neuter procedure.

At the hearing his lawyer claimed that Rekhi had come from a different country, where animals were treated differently, and that the videos were taken out of context. However, animal abuse is never okay, and it seems more like an excuse than anything. As someone who is supposed to dedicate their life to helping, and saving animals, it’s an absolutely disgusting form of misconduct, and he shouldn’t be allowed to practice ever again.

After the hearing he was fined $10,000 and was also given a 1o month suspension, but if he took “training classes” they would drop the suspension to 6 months. He was suspended from Aug. 20, 2016 to Feb. 20, 2017. His lawyer also said that Rekhi and his family had been receiving death threats once the public had seen the videos. The employees submitted dozens of videos against him during his hearing, but he still did not lose his license.

Veterinarians that are caught harming animals should not be allowed to practice again. People trust that their pets are going to be in safe hands, and abusing a defenseless animal while their owner is not even there to defend them, is disgusting. The fact that he could, and probably will, abuse more animals in the future, is horrifying. The protest outside of his practice needs to stay until his license is revoked, and he can not endanger anymore animals lives.

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