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Undercover Kitty - Cat helps sting fake vet

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In an astonishing story from across the pond, American law enforcement officials enlisted the help of Fred, an 8-month-old kitten, as bait in a sting operation to catch the illegal practices of a fake vet.

Authorities were first alerted to the illicit practices by a complaint from Raymond Reid, who's dog was the victim of a botched operation by Stephen Vassal

Vassal made house calls and undertook surgeries in a location undisclosed to his customers, something which Reid later admitted should have made him suspicious.

Vassal operated on Burt (Reid's terrier) for an abdominal blockage and called Reid on the phone to tell him Burt was going to die. Reid demanded to see Burt and Vassal agreed to drive him home.

Upon arrival Burt bounded out of car looking fairly healthy except for an open abdominal wound and a bloody nose. Later the bloody nose was revealed to merely be because of the absence of a protective collar to prevent access to the wound.

Executive assistant district attorney Carol Moran volunteered the services of Fred, the formerly stray kitten she was looking after to help the police mount a sting operation against Vassal

A house was rigged with camera equipment and an officer posing as a customer lured Vassal to the house, where he agreed to neuter the kitten for $135 cash.

He left the house with the cash and the kitten in a box and was promptly arrested for treating pets without a license. Subsequently a price list offering vaccinations and other procedures, including surgeries was recovered.

Vassal has been granted $2500 bail and is due to appear in court to face charges of unauthorized use of a professional title, torturing and injuring animals, and other charges.

Both Burt and Fred are absolutely fine and appeared at a news conference wearing miniature badges from the Police Department on their collars, seemingly unperturbed by the trauma or by all the press attention.

This article was first published in The Purr Company's regular Mews-letter, visit us for more cat stories and articles, a gallery of our visitors cats , cat videos and our online shop.

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