Sacked, the vet who stole £2,000 puppy she’d just delivered
A ‘DISHONEST’ vet stole a pedigree puppy worth £2,000 from the surgery where she worked after helping deliver it. Zahra Rafiq, 29, took the new-born French bulldog from a Vets Now surgery in Merseyside in December 2017. It later died at her home.
But the vet, who was sacked after the incident, has been suspended for just six months by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons.
A disciplinary panel said Rafiq was ‘very unlikely to pose a risk to animals’ and found that she had not stolen the puppy for money. But Vets Now have insisted she will never work for them again, and the owner of the puppy, Safinah Mhagrh, insisted that Rafiq should not be allowed to care for animals.
Mrs Mhagrh, 29, said: ‘I’m fuming. That vet stole my puppy. It was a terrible, heartless thing to do. She should not be allowed to practise.’
Rafiq and an assistant at the surgery were both fired after taking a puppy each from the six strong litter. One died but the second stolen puppy was later returned alive.
The vet had previously been overheard saying that she planned to steal a puppy, but colleagues thought it was a joke, the hearing was told.
The theft took place when Mrs Mhagrh, 29, rushed her three-year-old French bulldog, Lyla, to the vets for an emergency caesarean section.
She told the Sunday Mirror: ‘The first one was coming out legs first and got stuck. I thought Lyla was going to die.
‘They did a scan but couldn’t tell the number of puppies. I was told to go home while they did the surgery.’
Hours later she returned to the surgery to wait for Lyla and her new puppies. She said: ‘Eventually the vet called us in and I saw the puppies in a green basket. I was told there were four but the stuck one didn’t make it.’
A week later Mrs Mhagrh was asked to return to the surgery in Huyton, Merseyside after it was discovered that Lyla had in fact given birth to six live puppies and two members of staff had each stolen one.
She said: ‘One had been
‘What was she thinking of?’
returned, but the other died after being taken home.
‘I burst out crying. I was heartbroken. You’re meant to trust a vet. I’m only glad there are some decent people at Vets Now who told me what happened. If they hadn’t I would never have known.
‘What was that vet thinking of? The dog she took died. I contacted police but they didn’t seem keen to pursue it. The vet’s surgery did take a statement from me.’
The surgeon who performed the caesarean was cleared of misconduct after a disciplinary panel was told he was concentrating solely on Lyla’s health so failed to count the number of puppies. But he was also sacked by Vets Now.
Rafiq was only handed a six month suspension at the hearing, despite the theft and death of the puppy, after five colleagues and a client praised her skills as a vet.
The panel heard that she was remorseful and was not hoping to make a profit from the theft. Ian Arundel, who chaired the hearing, said: ‘The committee concluded Dr Rafiq was very unlikely to pose a risk to animals in future.’
Dr Laura Playforth of Vets Now said the company was shocked by what had happened. ‘In my 20 years as a vet, I’ve never seen anything like this,’ she said.
Rafiq, who now lives in a house worth £950,000 in Surrey, did not comment.