Charity's 'difficult' decision to close vet clinic

Staffing challenges and increases in demand have led to a charity's decision to close a vet clinic.

JSPCA Animals' Shelter said its assisted vet clinic would shut on 29 May to "responsibly manage current demand" and ensure it could continue to provide safe, timely and high quality care.

The charity said demand for its in-house animal vet care services had risen and this presented staff resourcing challenges.

Chief executive Pam Aubert said the decision to close the clinic - which offered support to clients including those on income support and those who adopted animals with pre-existing medical conditions - had been "difficult" to make.

Aubert said the charity was spending about £4,000 in operational costs per day and had a team of 50 staff and 50 volunteers.

She added resourcing the service with "very few staff" and recruitment in Jersey and from the UK being "really hard" had played a part in the decision.

"As a charity, we can't provide the salaries that, you know, perhaps a private vet might be able to," Aubert said.

The charity said it would continue to offer prescribed medication at a reduced rate and a referral service for one-off procedures.

Aubert added she was hopeful the service could return in some form in the future.

"What we're not saying is 'it's gone goodbye'," Aubert said.

"What we're saying is 'it's stopped for now in its current format'."

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