CONTRARY to reports made by Fiji Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals that veterinarian Dr. Joel Joseph left his post as resident veterinarian suddenly and in breach of his contract, Joseph said the credible threat against him was never supported by the country’s SPCA executive committee.

Variety reported on Wednesday that Fiji SPCA acting President Wendy Montgomery wrote to the Guam Attorney General’s Office expressing her dismay with Joseph’s actions and those surrounding his interview, employment and departure. Dr. Joseph is the owner of Wise Owl Animal Hospital in Tamuning.

Montgomery alleged that Joseph left Fiji without the required four weeks’ notice pursuant to his contract and that Joseph’s claim that he was threatened by an employee, though implausible, was taken seriously, prompting an internal investigation.

But Joseph, in an email interview, along with numerous letters he says he sent to the Fiji SPCA executive committee, said the employee in question, nurse vet Joseph Kameo, had threatened not only him on numerous occasions, but is also responsible for the “parade of short-lived personnel” at Fiji SPCA.

“He is the single biggest reason vets have left,” Joseph wrote in his Resident Veterinary Report on SPCA Fiji Islands dated April 2, 2012. “He has threatened the executive committee (individually and collectively), other vets and myself personally at least twice.”

His report details numerous allegations against Kameo claiming that the nurse vet is “brutal in his handling of animals” with “reports of his beating with fists.”

Decrepit

Joseph’s report goes on to describe the decrepit state of the Fiji SPCA grounds, including feces spread about the compound and dogs that have been locked in their cages for months, and in some cases years.

Joseph also provided a copy of a November 2010 report from Royal SPCA Senior Manager Education Mark Jeffrey, in which Jeffrey makes similar accounts of the conditions he discovered during a visit to Fiji SPCA. Jeffrey noted there were feces, some very old, in the dog kennels and in the drainage. In addition, Jeffrey said in his report that during his three-day visit, he never witnessed dogs being let out of their cages to exercise.

Joseph further provided a copy of notices he contends he sent to the Fiji SPCA executive committee that he plans to resign. The first letter was dated March 5 and the second letter dated about a month later, April 2.

In his April 2 letter he wrote that he received a call from Kameo on March 27 “telling me that I cannot come to a country and do these things and that I should watch out. He then hung up.” Joseph wrote in his letter that despite an agreement that Fiji SPCA would “deal” with Kameo, the executive committee “refused to support me or deal with the seriousness of the threats.”

“I resign, effective immediately; and unlike last time, I do not need your acceptance,” Joseph wrote.

Shut down

With regard to allegations that Joseph may have the intention to close down Fiji SPCA, Joseph, in his April 2 report, states: “The SPCA Fiji islands should be shut down and closed.”

“The Suva facility should be locked shut and returned to the government. All personnel terminated with the closure and paid whatever is due them from existing assets. The remaining debts paid off to the best of possibilities. As many animals should be re-homed as possible and the rest, unfortunately, euthanized, but humanely, please,” he wrote.

He recommended that the Fijiian government or some existing animal welfare organization renovate the Suva facility or rebuild elsewhere, after which a new animal welfare society can take root. He further suggested that prior employees should be given the opportunity for employment with the new organization.

Joseph has been in contention with the Guam Board of Allied Health Examiners for the last several years. The board unanimously voted to suspend Joseph’s license and prohibited him from practicing medicine for a period of five years.

However, Joseph has refused to comply with the board’s decision, arguing that the preliminary record of decision has no legality unless ordered and enforced by a Superior Court of Guam judge.