Beloved pets let down
PREMIER Annastacia Palaszczuk quipped during her meeting here yesterday that, to show she understood water security was our number one issue, she had brought some rain along with her.
On that score, she was showing a great deal of faith in the weather forecaster. But her pledge to once and for all fix our water crisis is an altogether more serious statement.
It is no exaggeration to say that, at least here in the North, will define her premiership.
The good news for Townsville is that, with an election on the horizon, it is highly unlikely Ms Palaszczuk would make such a pledge unless she can deliver something meaningful.
Cue next month’s State Budget, a perfect platform for the Palaszczuk Government to back the Premier’s words. The Budget will be delivered a couple of weeks before the Water Security Taskforce presents its interim report on June 30. But there is nothing to stop the Government from making a firm cash commitment to the solution.
Ms Palaszczuk told the Queensland Business Advisory Council meeting, held in the Townsville Bulletin’s office, she wants her proposed hydro power scheme for the Burdekin Dam under way as soon as possible along with a new pipe connection.
That’s encouraging. Less encouraging is the continuing power price rip- off of local businesses. As we heard at the same QBAC meeting yesterday, power charges have more than doubled in the past five years. The reason? Transmission charges, the price of which is determined by, you guessed it, the State Government.
If, as the Premier says, she is serious about job generation in this region – and we believe she is – she must address this issue.
The cost of power is killing profits, killing businesses and killing jobs. And if nothing changes it will kill off our manufacturing sector in the North. So credit to the Premier for coming here and showing she takes our water crisis seriously. And full marks for her steadfast support for the job- generating Adani project, in the face of fierce resistance from within and from the Greens.
Now if she can do something about business power bills, she will go a long way to winning this city over a second time. I FEEL so sad for the Robinsons of Charters Towers following the death of their horse while in veterinary care ( TB, 15/ 5).
When your animals are placed in the care of the professionals, you know miracles won’t happen but you hope for humane outcomes. I think most people presume if you leave a pet at a vet clinic they will get 24- hour care until an operation is performed or the animal is out of danger. Sadly, it’s not the case because of costs.
Our little dog was accidentally run over after he had become scared by army blasting.
We rushed him to our local vet who made us drive to their other clinic as no one was available to help us.
That vet put him in a cage and said he would be sedated, rested and then operated on the next morning. We said goodbye and told him we would see him tomorrow, believing he would be attended to overnight.
The vet called us an hour later and said our dog had passed away.
He actually said it was “lucky” that he had an emergency call out to the vet and found our beloved dog had already passed away otherwise he would never have found him dead until the morning.
Are you kidding? Being left to die in a cold cage on your own. Who does that? We believed the vet would nurture and care for him better than we could.
If we had realised the situation, we would have kept him at home ourselves and cuddled him until he passed away in a warm and loving environment.
I was so appalled by the practice of the clinic that we have now changed to a more caring one.
I was a vet nurse many years ago and actually couldn’t believe what went on.
I know most vets are in this profession for their love of animals but when financial gain overtakes the humane care of animals then the industry must be looked into.
I am now in the pet care side of the industry, as I just cried too often with how clinics were run.
I wish I had done veterinary science, as I had intended, and had been able to operate a veterinary surgery that was a business but still caring enough to put the animals before profits all the time. EDWINA SCOTTS- TOLLEY,
Bushland Beach.