Vet arrested and due in court over animal and welfare offences
Police have arrested four individuals, including a vet, in connection with animal health and welfare offences.
Officers from Police Scotland have charged the two males and two females for 19 offences under the Animal Health and Welfare Act.
They are due before Hamilton Sheriff Court on Friday, May 20th, 2022.
These arrests are the result of a joint investigation with SSPCA, the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, and the Veterinary Medicine Directive in the Strathaven area.
Vets’ stress levels
In other news, 42.5% of veterinary professionals in Ireland experience abnormal levels of stress.
That is the key finding arising from the first “comprehensive” study on the health of the veterinary professions in Ireland.
The Veterinary Council of Ireland (VCI) commissioned the research that it conducted in collaboration with the HSE National Office for Suicide Prevention (NOSP) and the National Suicide Research Foundation (NSRF) in April 2021.
The VCI, has this morning (Monday, April 25th, 2022) published the resulting research report.
747 registered veterinary practitioners and veterinary nurses in both employee and managerial roles participated in the anonymized research.
It covered the topics of:
- Depression;
- Anxiety;
- Stress;
- Burnout;
- Deliberate self-harm;
- Suicide;
- Mental health knowledge;
- Stigma;
- Help-seeking;
- Sources of support.
This represents 18% of all registered vets and vet nurses in Ireland at the time of the survey.
Anxiety levels were high amongst respondents across all roles:
- 7% of participants were in the normal range for anxiety;
- 9% in the borderline abnormal range;
- 5% in the abnormal range.
The research study shows that Irish veterinary professionals are at “no greater risk” of suicidality than the general population in Ireland. This is based on a comparable study Maynooth University carried out in 2020.
