Serious point to finish off. If you had contacted me and pointed out the source story wasn’t accurate, providing references along with the true story, but held off with the threats, then we would have got here all the quicker. Legal threats can always be used later if asking doesn’t work! People and organisations tend to go defensive when it looks like lawyers will be involved or the starting point of a conversation is suggesting they will be brought into actions as a matter of first recourse.

Please consider this advice if you find other organisations / people using the information as it is liable to garner more support for your position and result in prompter corrections with less effort on everyone’s part.

One last thought, I take it you know of the PCC?
http://www.pcc.org.uk/

Mark Townsend and Caroline Davies
The Observer,
Sunday April 27 2008
Article history
The following correction was printed in the Observer’s For the record column, Sunday May 11 2008

The article below repeated news agency claims that charity worker Kim Cooling was bitten by a rabid puppy which had been imported into Britain by her charity, Animal SOS Sri Lanka. We should make it clear that the dog, along with four other healthy puppies, had been brought into the country by individuals who were not working under the auspices of her charity, which works solely in Sri Lanka.

Awaiting online reference information from the original commenter. None received so far.

But I don’t know what the original article stated and don’t see any apology in the updated story. If the apology has appeared in their newspaper then it is worth asking for them to also put it online.

Still, I find it all the more amazing that these dogs were brought into the UK at an age where they couldn’t be given the appropriate vaccinations when leaving Sri Lanka…. well that’s what The Mail article quotes people involved in this case are saying:

Jeremy Robinson, manager of the Goddard Veterinary Group, which owns the kennels, said: “Normally dogs coming from Sri Lanka are vaccinated against rabies before they leave the country for Great Britain.

“But, in this case, the puppies were too young because they were only eight weeks old and you cannot vaccinate before three months.”

The kennels also house pets whose owners are away on holiday. But Mr Robinson said there was no danger to any other pets on the premises.

He added: “The puppy’s ill state was recognised by staff when it arrived and it was isolated. It never came into contact with any other dogs in the quarantine block.

Wow! They knew the puppy was ill and it appears that they didn’t issue / enforce the use of PPE kit for their employees or others involved in the care of the animal. Maybe Kim Cooling and the employees who were bitten have a case against the quarantine kennels!!

I’m still interested to hear the rationale of those individuals who think it is a good idea to bring dogs into the UK from Rabies hotspots. I’d also have thought that the personal expenditure involved may have been better directed to the charity efforts in Sri Lanka thereby meeting the greater needs of the many animals over the lucky few.

Needless, to say I’ll be monitoring the BBC sources used in this blog post for corrections and make changes to their quotes as they appear.

They quote Jeremy Robinson directly:

Jeremy Robinson, general manager of the kennel, said the five dogs had arrived on April 17 and were brought into the country by a charity which rescued dogs from the streets of Sri Lanka and arranged for them to be given new homes.

Mr Robinson said the kennel had been working with the charity for some years and received about 12 dogs a year from Sri Lanka.

I found that while doing a quick Googe for any apologies online… unfortunately my five minutes spent searching could find nothing but more stories of the ilk that you appear to be challenging. One piece of advice: getting the big boys to correct their story will see a massive replication throughout the blogosphere.

Another article you may wish to see corrected:
http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/society/health/rabid+dog+bites+three+people/2086347

Here’s a good link to other mainstream articles that may require intervention:
http://www.silobreaker.com/DocumentReader.aspx?Item=5_850469130

I will have no problems correcting the blog post and will issue an apology when the original source does likewise:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7368808.stm

I don’t read newspapers, hence I’ve missed any corrections in the national press. Most newspapers run online versions, so I’m very open to being pointed to a few online corrections and apologies.

I don’t condemn the work the charity or any individual is doing in Sri Lanka, but I do question the fact that some people “linked” with the charity feel the need to import dogs and/or care for imported dogs when we have our own stray dog problem that could do with funding and resources here in the UK.

Please post some links to correctons and apologies and you wlll very quickly see likewise from me. I’ll even make a small donation to my local animal shelter by way of recompense!

A minor edit has been done to this blog post to clear up any confusion surround the people involved.