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An SPCA inspector has been accused of tipping off a vet charged with stealing a dog about random inspections of her clinic.
Both the vet and the inspector appeared in separate Auckland courts on the same day last week.
Grey Lynn veterinarian Tracey Gifkins has been charged with theft after allegedly taking a family pet from near her clinic.
She pleaded not guilty in the North Shore District Court on Wednesday and was ordered to surrender her passport. She has also been suspended from the Veterinary Council.
In the Pukekohe District Court, former SPCA inspector John Heremaia was charged with obstruction under the Animal Welfare Act.
The Herald on Sunday understands he is alleged to have phoned Gifkins to warn her of random inspections of her clinic. Sources said his alleged actions were discovered only after he had left the animal welfare group on a separate employment matter.
Fran Allison and her family frantically searched for their pet "foodle" Ollie - a fox terrier-poodle cross - every night for a week after he disappeared in September.
A friend of Gifkins had found Ollie outside the Allison home, presumed the scruffy-looking dog was a stray and took it to the vet clinic.
Gifkins allegedly took Ollie to her North Shore home for five days.
The dog apparently escaped and was taken to the West Auckland pound after a neighbour called Animal Control.
Ollie's microchip was scanned but no data came up because the registration was too recent.
Gifkins claimed the dog back the next day, only a few hours before Allison arrived to ask if animal control officers had seen Ollie.
"There was no question it was him, the microchip is like a set of fingerprints.
"If he hadn't been micro-chipped, we would never be able to prove he was ours," Allison said.
Animal Welfare then called Gifkins, a complaint was laid with police and a search warrant obtained for her house. Inside, police found Ollie and another missing dog, a beagle called Billy, owned by a lawyer couple.
- Rebecca Milne
