To a point and in a fashion, yes, I believe emergency care should be available for animals. If I have a sick or injured animal on my hands, the last thing I want to hear when I call for help is that "our office hours are from 8am to 5pm Monday through Friday" (Most vets care more for their patients than that, by the way.)
Having said that, I have mixed feeling about this particular case. I can't say I blame her for calling 911 in the first place, but I fault her for withholding information, whether intentionally or by accident. The ambulance crew sped to the scene, risking a traffic mishap, in the belief that a three-year-old human child's life was at risk, and only upon arriving did they discover that the victim was a dog.
A recent article in my hometown newspaper discussed the difficulties of people misusing the 911 service. Aside from prank calls, they have to deal with cases such as one older man suffering from dementia who called 911 more than 20 times within a year for such things as having difficulty ejecting a tape from his VCR.
To a point and in a fashion, yes, I believe emergency care should be available for animals. If I have a sick or injured animal on my hands, the last thing I want to hear when I call for help is that "our office hours are from 8am to 5pm Monday through Friday" (Most vets care more for their patients than that, by the way.)
Having said that, I have mixed feeling about this particular case. I can't say I blame her for calling 911 in the first place, but I fault her for withholding information, whether intentionally or by accident. The ambulance crew sped to the scene, risking a traffic mishap, in the belief that a three-year-old human child's life was at risk, and only upon arriving did they discover that the victim was a dog.
A recent article in my hometown newspaper discussed the difficulties of people misusing the 911 service. Aside from prank calls, they have to deal with cases such as one older man suffering from dementia who called 911 more than 20 times within a year for such things as having difficulty ejecting a tape from his VCR.