Kylie Lang: Self-centred Qld pet owners choosing to kill their animals so they can holiday makes my blood boil

Few things make my blood boil more than animal cruelty but folks, in the case of Queenslanders having their pets killed so they can go on holiday, we have a new low, writes Kylie Lang.

• Jetsetting owners demand vets kill ‘perfectly healthy’ pets

Few things make my blood boil more than animal cruelty – defenceless creatures at the mercy of deadbeat humans – but folks, we have a new low.

Proving a point I’ve long held, that dogs are better than people, the latest revelation is that holidaymakers are demanding their pooches be euthanised because, wait for it, they are interfering with their vacation plans.

Self-centred owners haven’t bothered to factor in the accommodation needs of their furry friend – now “unfriended” in the most horrific way.

They’ve got planes to catch, slopes to ski and schnapps to skol.

Sorting kennels or pet sitters is just too inconvenient.

Vets tell me they dread this time of year – and the September school holidays – because requests to put down healthy pets skyrocket.

RSPCA QLD Adoption and Foster Manager Nellie Worringham with nine-week-old male kitten 'Hades' who was surrendered at Wacol. Picture: Richard Walker

And as one Brisbane vet says: “If an owner decides, you can’t say no.”

The Veterinary Surgeons Board of Queensland code of conduct requires vets to “recognise it is the owner’s right to request management options for their animal, including euthanasia”.

The owner’s right? What if they’re so wrong it’s inexcusable?

Time to amend the code of conduct.

Animal Welfare League of Queensland spokesperson Craig Montgomery says vets are unduly burdened by this conflict.

“It puts vets in such an awful position to euthanise a perfectly healthy animal which should be in a loving home,” he says.

Montgomery says this holiday-euthanasia trend also affects cats.

Speaking to a number of inner-Brisbane vets this week, they also are aware of the shocking situation.

I only came across it recently when discussing my 13-year-old pup’s ongoing care.

Covid had scuppered my 2020 trip to the US and I had $3000 in travel credits to use by the end of December 2023, for travel in 2024.

But I was concerned about leaving my dog, who has arthritis, a heart condition, cataracts and sticks to me like a shadow.

My family would take her for a week or two but she would fret awfully – and I couldn’t bear to do that to her.

I told the vet I’d just book something and if our pup was still alive at the time of flying, I’d forfeit the airfares.

RSPCA Queensland adoption and foster manager Nellie Worringham with five-month-old male Standard Poodle/Golden Retriever cross 'Ziggy' who was surrendered at Wacol. Picture: Richard Walker

She agreed without reservation, but said not everyone would do the same. Instead, euthanasia was becoming a go-to solution to travelling again.

According to one insider, it’s people who paid thousands of dollars for designer dogs – “anything with an oodle on the end” – during Covid lockdowns who are among the quickest to discard them.

“They used the dogs for comfort during the pandemic but now these same people are flitting off to Whistler or the French Alps and demanding vets put the animals down; it’s selfish and heartless,” he says.

You got that right.

We often read about brutal cases of animal abuse – grubs chaining their dogs in the blistering sun without water, starving them, punching them in the head and throwing them down stairs, keeping them in faeces-ridden shipping containers.

These are just some of the disgusting examples reported in a long list in The Courier-Mail in June 2023.

Well now the RSPCA has another issue to investigate – killing dogs for the sake of hedonistic holiday plans.

The bottom line is this: don’t have a pet if you will not look after it.

Before you bring home a little ball of fur, do your homework.

Factor in the time it takes to care for it properly.

Calculate the costs – and they escalate as a dog ages – and work out if you can cover them.

Admittedly, some people’s circumstances change, forcing them to surrender their pet to the RSPCA or Animal Welfare League.

People lose jobs, rents rise, electricity bills soar, older folk move into assisted living, and for these pet owners, it can be heartbreaking to give up their companion.

But to those who would sacrifice your pet because it has become something of a nuisance, shame on you.

If you really can’t hack being a pet owner then at least give the animal to a shelter so it can be rehomed. Pet adoption is the kindest route you could take.

Zipping off on holidays and demanding your animal be killed is just unspeakably evil.

Kylie Lang is associate editor of The Courier-Mail

[e-mail]

LOVE

Opposition Leader David Crisafulli having the common sense and compassion to cancel his Christmas leave so he could assist flood victims. He is preferred premier for good reason. A sentiment survey by The Courier-Mail shows 60 per cent of people see him as the most trustworthy leader.

LOATHE

Our broken parole system. The parents of murdered Gold Coast teen Jack Beasley were given 21 days to respond to the killer’s bid for parole but four days later were told a decision to release him had already been made. The Parole Board then admitted it made a “mistake” and cancelled the release.