Veterinary Abuse Network Marks Anniversary of Founding on August 19, 2000

Suki, victim of Edward Nichols,
Crestway Animal Clinic, San Antonio, TX,
and the guiding spirit behind VAN. 

It's our anniversary! We are either thirteen years old or ten years old, depending on how you count it. On August 19, 2000, two days after the monster who killed Suki was exonerated by a single board vet in Austin, I decided to start a site called S.A.V.E. Stop Abusive Vets Everywhere, to expose the travesty of injustice that took place in Austin when "Dr." Edward J. Nichols and Crestway Animal Clinic got away with prolonged, inexplicable, and hideous mistreatment of my most beloved companion. If a "doctor" this bad, this incompetent, this negligent, this stupid, arrogant, careless, sloppy, lazy and dishonest was allowed to inflict such medical horrors on an innocent animal, how many other "Ed Nichols" were out there putting pets at risk every day? 

Turns out way too many. When I began hearing from other vet victims from around the country and around the world, I decide that the site needed a bigger name to reflect what was obviously more than just one BadVet and one BadVetBoard. In 2003, S.A.V.E. evolved into The Veterinary Abuse Network, vetabusenetwork.com, and every year since then, more and more people are connecting with one another and mobilizing efforts. If we can't put an end to BadVets, then we can work at putting an end to the vet boards' protection of them, and to help foster laws that put a higher value on our animals as true members of our families--the very same human/animal bond that drives us to get our family members the best medical care possible. 

Many thanks to all of you who have written such wonderful messages of support and are fighting your own fights in your individual states. With every new victim I hear from who says they are filing a complaint, considering a vet mal lawsuit, putting up a blog, a site, a Facebook page, a Twitter account, organizing a picket, starting a petition, meeting with their elected representatives, attending their veterinary board meetings, fighting for their First Amendment rights, getting media coverage from investigative reporters, and spreading the word among their friends and neighbors about their own personal vet horror stories, I know that little by little, we WILL succeed. Our companions did not suffer and die in vain. We WILL hold more BadVets accountable--officially and unofficially, online and off--for their devastating, life-altering, unconscionably cruel and despicable mistreatment and deaths of our precious companions. As I say in Suki's Story:

"The monster can’t hurt Suki anymore. But he, and others like him, are still out there every day. Incompetent vets who “treat” our pets’ bodies, but can’t touch their spirits. They can steal our pets’ lives, but not their legacies. They can run away from the truth, but they can never escape themselves."

Together we will make sure that there is no place for BadVets to hide. Thank you for all you do for the animals, and keep fighting the good fight!