The law in the State of California permits anyone, even those without a Veterinarian license , to perform medical procedures on all animals without formal education and training in the area of Veterinarian medicine. Veterinarians have dedicated their time to all species, specializing in most. They have spent years of their lives to learn proper methods, techniques and modern medicine practices to efficiently care for and treat our beloved pets. Working within an establishment intended for Veterinarian care only, they are provided the adequate, proper tools and sanitary conditions needed to perform general care, surgeries, preventative medicine and humane euthenasia.
When an average, uneducated individual takes on the task of these procedures without proper surgical equipment, sterile conditions, anesthetics, pain control medicines and antibiotics, the animal is often subjected to life threatening infections, unnecessary pain and suffering, and sadly in most cases even death. These animals are often misdiagnosed, treated with improper medication and put under the knife without a professional, educated diagnosis.
We are asking that this law is amended in order to prevent these senseless deaths due to unethical, unlicensed surgical procedures. All animals, large and small, deserve the right to a healthy life and proper veterinarian provided health care. Until this law is amended, countless animals will suffer and die at the hands of unlicensed individuals. We beg that you consider the quality of life and health of our beloved animal friends and make this senseless butchering illegal in the state of California.
Below is the law we would like amended:
4827. Nothing in this chapter prohibits any person from:
(a) Practicing veterinary medicine as a bona fide owner of one's own animals. This exemption applies to the following:
(1) The owner's bona fide employees.
(2) Any person assisting the owner, provided that the practice is performed gratuitously.
(b) Lay testing of poultry by the whole blood agglutination test. For purposes of this section, "poultry" means flocks of avian species maintained for food production, including, but not limited to, chickens, turkeys, and exotic fowl.
(c) Making any determination as to the status of pregnancy, sterility, or infertility upon livestock, equine, or food animals at the time an animal is being inseminated, providing no charge is made for this determination.
(d) Administering sodium pentobarbital for euthanasia of sick, injured, homeless, or unwanted domestic pets or animals without the presence of a veterinarian when the person is an employee of an animal control shelter and its agencies or humane society and has received proper training in the administration of sodium pentobarbital for these purposes.
