This isn't the most critically important story I've ever posted about, but it does demonstrate the knee-jerk mindset of our legislators and government agencies. It is reported today in the times that Animal Health, the agency responsible for the state veterinary service, has banned vets and other staff from taking their dogs in cars on visits to farms or other premises when on official business. This will also affect private vets on government contracts. That’s right, the government is telling vets how to look after animals. Incredible.
The reason? A member of the public complained about a dog locked inside an employee’s car at an agency car park on a hot day. At this point you may ask - what was a vet doing shutting his dog in a car on a hot day? Surely a vet should know better? Well, it wasn't a vet that did it. It was just a person who had shut their dog in their car. So now vets can not take their pets anywhere simply because someone - anyone - once locked their dog in a car.
But of course, the government know best. The senior agency staff were concerned that the practice of allowing dogs on duty risked the possibility of a prosecution and also compromised bio-security on farms. Is this really such a problem? If so, why has taken a member of the public seeing a dog belonging to someone who is not a vet or in anyway trained for animal health work before anything has been done? Because loony PC do gooding dimwits have to do something, don't they or they wouldn't have a publicly funded job to go to.