A CENTRAL Victorian horse dentist is facing 25 charges including aggravated cruelty for allegedly using rotary cutters to grind a horse’s teeth, leaving it unable to process food.
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The 55-year-old man was charged last week after police raided his property on January 8.
He has been charged with 23 counts of possessing a drug of dependence and two counts of animal cruelty to the same horse.
Sergeant Brent McGuire, of the Central Victoria Response Unit, said it was alleged the man was falsely advertising himself as a horse dentist, travelling to properties throughout Australia, but primarily Victoria, to carry out dentistry work.
The aggravated cruelty charges relate to the alleged use of rotary cutters to grind a horse’s teeth, leaving it “severely disabled”.
The surgery allegedly took place on a property in Strathfieldsaye.
The man is accused of using the power tools to grind the teeth down for up to a centimetre – a technique that is not illegal on horses, but is illegal on sheep.
The surgery left the horse unable to properly chew food, resulting in it entering a malnourished state.
Police found the horse to have an exposed pulp cavity and damaged facial nerves.
The resulting condition of the horse led police to press charges.
A horse owner raised concerns with police after the surgery work. The owner had spent between $10,000 and $12,000 to keep the horse alive after the surgery.
Police are pressing charges in an effort to outlaw the practice of using rotary cutters to grind down horse’s teeth. Horse owners normally use files.
The raid on the property also allegedly uncovered vials of the horse tranquilisers ketamine, butorphanol and fentanyl, as well as a number of unauthorised Schedule 4 poisons.
The man did not have the required permissions to possess the drugs.
He has been summonsed to appear in the Bendigo Magistrates’ Court on April 28.
