A vegan vet has been struck off for helping an Animal Rebellion activist steal a pet dog by removing its microchip.
Dr Amir Kashiv carried out the procedure ‘under the radar’ after being told that the five year old Labrador had been abused by its owner, a disciplinary hearing was told.
The pet, named Bella, had been stolen by a member of the protest group, now known as Animal Rising, and transported about 200 miles from its ‘distraught’ owner’s home.
Police tracked phones belonging to the animal rights group and found the dog had been taken from Halifax in West Yorkshire to Dr Kashiv, who worked in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire.
Self proclaimed ‘animal rights person’ Dr Kashiv was given community service after admitting removing the chip, which meant the dog could be re-homed without being traced.
He has now been thrown out of the profession after a Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons panel found him guilty of disgraceful conduct.
The hearing was told that the incident took place in December 2022 after Bella’s owner – named only as AH – was tricked into letting a teenage girl take the dog for a walk while recovering from a hip replacement.
She and her sister, who was known to be involved with Animal Rebellion, later stole the dog and took it to Dr Kashiv later the same month.
A vegan vet has been struck off for helping an Animal Rebellion activist steal a pet dog by removing its microchip (Stock image)
The tribunal heard: ‘Mr AH, following a hip replacement which led to him ‘hobbling’ accepted what he thought was a kind offer from a young neighbour to pay her to walk Bella for him.
‘On 7 December 2022, the neighbour collected Bella as usual, but about twenty minutes later, she ran back to Mr AH’s house, telling him that a firework had frightened Bella and that she had run off.’
Friends of the neighbour, who went to the same sixth form as her, told police that she said she and her sister – referred to at the hearing as Ashley and Miss AF – had planned to steal the dog.
Bella’s owner – who had owned the pet since it was eight weeks old – reported it missing and told officers his ‘life has not been the same since she was taken’.
‘I have been unable to sleep since Bella was taken and I am worried I may never see her again,’ he said.
‘Police investigations tracked the mobile telephone signals for Miss AF and another member of ‘Animal Rebellion’, Mr DG, whom Police believed had been involved in the theft,’ the hearing was told.
‘This revealed that, on 17 December 2022, ten days after Bella had been stolen, AF and DG’s telephones had been in the vicinity of Medivet in Broxbourne, the veterinary practice where Dr Kashiv worked and was present.’
Dr Kashiv said Ashley told him that the dog ‘had not been in a good place and that she was being abused’, though he admitted ‘Bella had no visible injuries and that there was no evidence that she had been in a poor environment’.
Members of animal rights group demonstrate in Victoria Tower Gardens in 2019
The professional tribunal heard: ‘On his own account he should have carried out some due diligence and at the very least considered contacting various organisations for advice.
‘Instead he conducted a clandestine procedure, late on a Saturday evening when no one else was present and without making any records that would give away the fact that he had removed Bella’s chip, so that it could, as Dr Kashiv said, go ‘under the radar’. ‘
He admitted that this was done ‘so she could be re-homed without being traced’.
Bella was reunited with her owner a few weeks after being stolen, although the tribunal did not know how she was found, and it was on examination by a different vet that it was discovered her microchip was missing and had been removed by a professional.
Dr Kashiv, who at one point in 2023 had 11 dogs and 20 cats in his own home which he used as a ‘rescue centre’, told the tribunal: ‘The owner couldn’t walk Bella as he was disabled and a young woman who knew Bella offered to walk her; I believe the information was gathered through this person.’
He claimed that this person ‘felt sorry for Bella and had decided to remove her from the owner and rehome her’.
The tribunal heard that the vet said he had been vegetarian for 54 years and vegan for 37 years, and that he considered himself ‘an animal rights person’.
On the microchip removal, Dr Kashiv said: ‘I agreed to do this, believing that I was acting in Bella’s best interests.’
Members of Animal Rebellion, which calls for a fully-plant-based food system, protest outside a McDonalds distribution site in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, in 2021
He told police : ‘I may have done it once or twice in the past. Once was a breeding dog kept on a balcony. Probably a year or two ago, two, three or four times maximum.’
Dr Kashiv told the tribunal that if he was in the same situation again, he would ‘politely refuse to participate’, although he resigned from his position as a vet in early 2023.
He said he’s since been doing voluntary work at three different animal sanctuaries.
Dr Kashiv added ‘I should have been the ‘adult in the room’ in this case rather than letting myself be swept along’.
The tribunal found that ‘although Dr Kashiv was not party to the theft, he nevertheless played a crucial role in the overall enterprise’.
It decided his actions amounted to disgraceful conduct and struck him off the register.
Following his conviction at Stevenage Magistrates’ Court, Dr Kashiv was sentence to a community order of 50 hours of unpaid work in 12 months and he was ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £114 and costs of £85.
He was also made subject to a Criminal Behaviour Order for five years from July 2024 for issues relating to the dogs he kept at his home escaping.
Animal Rebellion aims to ‘bring about a transition to a just and sustainable plant-based food system’.
The group’s symbol features the hourglass symbol associated with Extinction Rebellion.
In September 2022, it made headlines for preventing fresh milk from reaching large areas of England by climbing on trucks at a dairy distribution centre.
