Woman facing charges after giving medicine to pets rescued from Hurricane Florence.

realibrad

Lifer
Oct 18, 2013
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/scie...sted-it/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.a6c8b32de5f7

But while many saw her actions as an act of goodwill to help animals during a natural disaster, county officials saw a violation of the law. They arrested and charged Hedges — a decision that immediately spun into a controversy in the community about 60 miles southeast of Raleigh.

Hedges is facing a dozen misdemeanor charges and accused of practicing veterinary medicine without a license. Specifically, she is charged with administering medications such as amoxicillin and a tropical antibiotic ointment to the animals, according to the nonprofit’s Facebook page. The group said she is also facing one count of solicitation of a Schedule IV controlled substance for asking for a donation of tramadol, a prescription pain medication used for animals.

I hope she learned her lesson. Better to let the animals suffer and or die than to practice medicine with out a licence. Imagine all the animals that could have been hurt by her had she not saved them.
 

Ken g6

Programming Moderator, Elite Member
Moderator
Dec 11, 1999
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Specifically, she is charged with administering medications such as amoxicillin and a tropical antibiotic ointment to the animals
She should have used an ointment from a more temperate climate, I guess. :p
 
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Jul 9, 2009
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It sucks, it's an emergency situation and she stood up and did what she could to help. I can see taking the animals for professional care, but not the gratuitous charges.
 

PottedMeat

Lifer
Apr 17, 2002
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someone from the county shelter probably saw it on facebook or whatever and reported to their boss and up the chain it went

On Sept. 17, three days after Florence made landfall on the North Carolina coast, an official from Wayne County Animal Services went to the warehouse at the request of the state Department of Agriculture, which oversees veterinary services. The official, according to a statement from the county, “developed serious concerns” that Hedges was practicing veterinary medicine without a license.
 
Nov 8, 2012
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I remember reading a while back that getting potent shit to inject into a horse has less regulation behind it than a dog/cat or other domestic animal.

Always boggles my mind as to why we are so retarded with domesticated animals. WHY do we need a prescription for any kind of standard medicine for animals (flea/tick/heartworm)? Ridiculous, fucking ridiculous.

Can only assume some companies lobbied their ass off. I'll be honest, I don't even do the whole vet bullshit anymore unless there is ACTUALLY something wrong. My count of how many times over the last 8 years? 0.
 

sdifox

No Lifer
Sep 30, 2005
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She should counter sue the county for allowing the flood to happen, causing her having to save the pets.
 

Lanyap

Elite Member
Dec 23, 2000
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The animals she helped should be character witnesses for her when they go to court.
 

realibrad

Lifer
Oct 18, 2013
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This is the type of thing that makes people dislike government. Here we have an emergency situation, and someone is doing what needs to be done and people get upset because its against the rules. Rather than using common sense they can only see that rules are being broken and thus it must be stopped. What is more annoying is that there were facilities for pets but only for people that were leaving their homes. If you had an animal that you wanted to surrender you were SOL. Further, many of the animals were found on the street and so they brought them in. The officials are literally saying that she should have left them to die.

Here is an example of the person that is at the root of this problem.

Mary Baggett I can't find where it tells her side of the story. But I gather from the comments that she had collected pets that were in danger from the storm. I can't tell for certain if she found most of them abandoned, but I think the fact that they charged her with having a controlled substance indicates that at least one of the pet owners left the animal and its meds with her. It clearly states that the county officials went in at the request of the state Dept of Ag. So, the charges must come from a state law. SO DON'T BLAME THE COUNTY OFFICIALS. Now, what is the point of having laws if police or other arresting officials arbitrarily decide when to enforce them. OUR COURT SYSTEM IS WHERE WE DETERMINE WHETHER OR NOT A PERSON IS GUILTY. If she can demonstrate that she was, in fact, rescuing animals and not running a boarding facility for pay, then the judge in the case will almost certainly find her NOT GUILTY. I can't give legal advice because I'm not a lawyer but it seems to me that all she would need is testimony of some sort from the owners of the pets. If it were me, I might not even bother getting a lawyer. But, IMHO, ALL OF YOU ARE COMPLETELY OVER REACTING to something that has not been settled. IMHO, people in this country tend to forget that arrested is not the same as guilty.
 
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UglyCasanova

Lifer
Mar 25, 2001
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Godzilla that person you quoted SOUNDS like a total douch, ESPECIALLY how the choose to capitalize entire WORDS.
 

Meghan54

Lifer
Oct 18, 2009
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Always boggles my mind as to why we are so retarded with domesticated animals. WHY do we need a prescription for any kind of standard medicine for animals (flea/tick/heartworm)? Ridiculous, fucking ridiculous.

Can only assume some companies lobbied their ass off. I'll be honest, I don't even do the whole vet bullshit anymore unless there is ACTUALLY something wrong. My count of how many times over the last 8 years? 0.

Actually, it's been the vets that have lobbied for the laws to be as they are in regards to cat/dog meds, not the companies that produce them. Vets have done this in numerous states, incl. NC and GA. Seems the common man cannot give flea meds or anything else because the vet needs his office visit $$$.
 
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Actually, it's been the vets that have lobbied for the laws to be as they are in regards to cat/dog meds, not the companies that produce them. Vets have done this in numerous states, incl. NC and GA. Seems the common man cannot give flea meds or anything else because the vet needs his office visit $$$.
Absolutely this. "Health Care Professionals"
 

Homerboy

Lifer
Mar 1, 2000
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There was an article on FB I read about organizations going in and saving pets. There was a guy (troll?) arguing in the comments on how those organizations and people were stealing the pets. He was standing his ground on his comments too. It was mind boggling insane.
 

realibrad

Lifer
Oct 18, 2013
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There was an article on FB I read about organizations going in and saving pets. There was a guy (troll?) arguing in the comments on how those organizations and people were stealing the pets. He was standing his ground on his comments too. It was mind boggling insane.

There are people out there that are really like that. Rules are super important to these people, and they will argue forever about how you must follow them. I think most of us assume people are being trolls when they do that, but, I think they are being honest.

Its like the cop that holds someone who was speeding because they were trying to save a life. How many times have we seen that happen? Its why reason is very important to a society.