RUFF JUSTICE

Unqualified worker left blood gushing from animal's leg

- MARK McGIVERN

AN UNQUALIFIED shop worker left a pet and its owner distressed when the dog's blood sprayed across a dingy "surgery" as she carried out an illegal veterinary procedure.

Coral Abel, 25, terrified the golden retriever, which had been taken in for artificial insemination - a procedure illegal to administer for non-vets.

Animal crime investigators at the SSPCA were called in and they swooped on the K9 Fertility business, in Aberdeen, which was routinely offering vet services despite being unqualified.

The charity's Special Investigations Unit found Abel and boss Gary Bain, 38, operating in filthy conditions, with hair from dog grooming posing a contamination risk.

The owner of retriever Zara told investigators how Abel visibly botched efforts to illegally take an intravenous blood sample from the dog and could not find a vein.