Huon Valley couple to fight animal cruelty charges after alleged botched rottweiler insemination

A Crabtree couple will fight a number of animal cruelty allegations following the alleged botched artificial insemination of a rottweiler. Read more about the RSPCA’s allegations >>>

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A MARRIED Huon Valley couple has been charged with multiple animal cruelty offences after the husband allegedly botched the artificial insemination of a rottweiler.

Bashir and Samantha Vahedi, of Crabtree, faced the Hobart Magistrates Court on Friday and said they would fight the charges brought by the RSPCA.

According to court documents, Mr Vahedi allegedly caused “unreasonable and unjustifiable” pain or suffering to the animal in October last year by inserting a tube attached to a syringe in the rottweiler’s vagina – but the tube was too short to be retrieved manually and it lodged inside the dog’s body.

He also allegedly inserted an unsterilised metal rod with a claw at its end into the dog’s vagina to retrieve the tube, but the rod became lodged inside the dog’s reproductive organs and required veterinary intervention to remove it.

Mr Vahedi, 29, also allegedly failed to seek veterinary help for the dog for at least two days.

He has been charged with three counts of animal cruelty, and one count of practising veterinary surgery as an unregistered person.

Mr Vahedi’s wife Samantha, 33, has been charged with one count of animal cruelty by allegedly failing to seek veterinary help for the rottweiler within a reasonable time.

On Friday, the pair pleaded not guilty to all charges before Magistrate Reg Marron.

They are seeking full document disclosure from the RSPCA before returning to court on March 30.

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