Woman who sheltered dogs & cats during Hurricane Florence charged | Dr. Justine Lee, DACVECC, DABT, Board-certified Veterinary Specialist
Earlier this week, Tammie Hedges, the founder of Crazy’s Claws N Paws animal rescue, was arrested and charged with several counts of illegally “practicing veterinary medicine.” Animal Control Officers in North Carolina confiscated 27 dogs and cats from her, where she was attempting to provide temporary shelter during the recent Hurricane Florence affecting North Carolina. You can find the original article here.
Tammie Hedges was released on a $10,000 bond and charged with practicing veterinary medicine without a license. She was also charged with soliciting a schedule IV controlled substance (tramadol, a DEA regulated drug). Approximately a dozen counts were charged.
While I think it’s applaudable that she was attempting to help rescue animals during a natural disaster, it’s important to remember that providing a safe, secure, dry area for rescued pets is different than the administration of medication. When in doubt, medications should never be administered without supervision from a veterinarian, as there are some contraindications for doing so. Also, asking for controlled drugs (e.g., narcotic-like drugs) is not appropriate, and pain medications should never be administered without consultation of a veterinarian.
That said, we couldn’t survive natural disasters without the help of all the volunteers who band together to save animals! For this, I am eternally grateful, especially in severe need.
Here, a few things I’d recommend doing to help (for non-veterinary professionals):
-
- Rescuing pets out of danger (e.g., flooded water)
- Providing a dry safe area in a well secured area (e.g., individual crates with clean water and food available)
- Barrier protection between animals (e.g., ideally having a separation between dog or cat kennel/crates
), so aersolized diseases (e.g., kennel cough, dog flu, upper respiratory infections) aren’t spread to each other
- Some type of Temporary ID Bands
(e.g., plastic white collars that allow a contact info to be written on it with a Sharpie).
- Having food sources available (ideally dry food or canned food) in stainless steel pet bowls
that are easy to disinfect between use
- Making sure pets are secure and walked on a secure leash.
), so aersolized diseases (e.g., kennel cough, dog flu, upper respiratory infections) aren’t spread to each other
(e.g., plastic white collars that allow a contact info to be written on it with a Sharpie).
that are easy to disinfect between useI also like to make sure that people aren’t put themselves at danger to rescue a pet.
Please be careful out there and know that you shouldn’t administer drugs to an animal without consultation with a veterinarian. Thankfully, there are multiple organizations (both veterinary and non-veterinary) that help with animal rescue too and can provide the medical veterinary expertise during these scenarios also. #ad
Weigh in – what do you think? Were the charges appropriate?
This was during a hurricane. If the only option she had was either let an animal die or try to save it with wound care, then there are some of us who have stitched up a serious cut on ourselves in a situation with no alternative. Its having the need for immediate aid. Hopefully they can get that shelter going. There is no need to burden them with fines and legal cost. Hopefully during non emergency she wont practice medicine without a license.