Bicton Veterinary Clinic has brought defamation charges against vegan activist Tash Peterson, after she posted a video to social media claiming the clinic was keeping birds in “slavery”.
The video shows Peterson enter the clinic after noticing birds in an enclosure out the front. She then confronts staff about the treatment of the birds.
Peterson claims that 30 minutes later, police arrived at her house and issued her with a banning notice and preventing her from entering the clinic.
Andrew McIntosh, co-owner of the WA clinic, said several members of the clinic were left traumatised as a result of the incident.
“We have an inclusive workforce here. We have students from high school, we have someone here with autism, others with mental health issues, and we just can’t have people coming in making blatantly false, misleading allegations purely for their own benefit.”
McIntosh hopes the charge brought against Peterson will prevent her from confronting others in the industry.
“The veterinary industry is a hard and unforgiving industry and involves long hours, dedication and stress. It has a high drop-out rate of qualified veterinarians and veterinarian staff and a high suicide rate. On average a person in the veterinary industry dies every 12 weeks. This clinic and its employees have not escaped this, experiencing a recent suicide.”
The birds at center of the controversy were left by the previous owners of the clinic and are abandoned birds brought in by members of the public.
Image sourced from Facebook/vganbooty