Police investigating dog`s killing at airport

A police investigation is underway to establish what led to a French tourist`s dog being put down at the quarantine section last week, the chief government vet, Lino Vella said.

Dr Vella, who is abroad on government business, said he had been trying to follow the case. "This has never happened before and it is not something that can be accepted".

"From what I have been told so far, the dog was not on the cargo list and we have to find out how and why the dog ended up in the baggage reclaim area," he said.

The dog had arrived at Malta International Airport from North Africa. The case has prompted a spokesman for the Society for the Protection and Care of Animals, John Micallef, to say that what had happened was `most disturbing`.

Mr Micallef said it was unbelievable that a six-year old beagle brought into Malta from North Africa by its owner, who was charged excess luggage by Air Malta in North Africa and was in possession of an import licence signed by the government`s chief vet, should arrive in Malta and end up a victim of the quarantine section.

Furthermore, the dog was in an animal carrier with its licence number and a tattoo on one of its ears.

The quarantine section`s story was that a dog had been found unaccompanied and without any documents in the Arrivals Hall. But, Mr Micallef asked, how did it get there?

"According to (owner) Mr Goldhagen it was immediately put down. It is difficult to believe on what grounds the decision to do this was taken.

"There are questions the SPCA thinks need to be answered," Mr Micallef said.

"Who ordered the quarantine section to put the dog down without the slightest inquiry as to the dog`s origin? If the dog was seen in the baggage reclaim area by an airport employee, how did it come to be in the arrivals lounge? If the quarantine section had been officially informed by a government department about the dog`s import licence, as has been claimed by the agency handling the dog`s paperwork, why was the section wary about placing the dog in quarantine?"

Mr Micallef conceded that the chief vet`s explanation that dogs brought into the island from North African countries without any documentation were put to sleep as a matter of policy made some sense.

But what did not make sense was the decision to put a pet down which had travelled on an Air Malta flight and for whom an import licence existed, he said.

"The SPCA believes that this is a very sad case for the owner and terminally tragic for the dog. Somebody is to blame. It is the responsibility of the chief vet to find out who that somebody is," Mr Micallef said.