Homeless animals as organ donors for farm dogs? Pro-animal activists disagree with this. The famous case of kidney transplant from a stray dog named Saturn comes back to the forefront. The procedure took place in one of the veterinary clinics in Warsaw’s Ursynów district, where a dog kidney was implanted into a purebred animal. Saturn’s case would not have been revealed without the suspicions of its future owner.
Transplants in dogs. Only a fraction of patients do not reject the transplanted organ
Veterinarians are constantly looking for new solutions to fight for the health of terminally ill animals, particularly: in cases of irreversible kidney failure. Like human medicine, it was decided to carry out research in the field of transplantology in animals. Organ transplant procedures in dogs, carried out in the United States in the early 2000s, did not produce the expected results.
Only 30 percent of canine patients survived beyond 100 days after transplantation. Less than 20 percent lived more than six months, and only a few individuals lived more than a year. The United States therefore decided not to apply such procedures in order not to cause unnecessary suffering to the animals. A few years later, a similar experiment was carried out in one of the veterinary clinics in Warsaw.
Even though Polish veterinarians were aware of the unsatisfactory results of transplantation procedures in animals, in our country a kidney transplant in a pet was carried out for the first time in 2013. Soon after, the story begins tragedy of a dog named Saturn. A homeless animal taken from a shelter was deprived of a kidney by veterinarian Jacek S. The organ was transplanted into a purebred dog from a breeder.
He arrived at the shelter after a difficult experience. After the procedure, the dog became useless again
A sheepdog named Joker needed an emergency kidney transplant. The dialysis treatments provided by the farm owners could no longer be provided. Joker was threatened with euthanasia. The vet decided to proceed with a kidney transplant. Even though Joker had healthy, genetically compatible siblings, it was not decided to harvest an organ from any of them.
It was decided to use a homeless dog from a shelter as the donor. It fell on Saturn. The ordinary burek lost his home and ended up in a shelter, from where he was adopted. He was expected to be surrounded by care and love in his new family. During this time, it served as a “part replacement”.
“The operation was performed in a clinic in Warsaw by Jacek S. on the night of October 19-20, 2013. The recipient was a purebred dog called Joker by rich owners” – said Katarzyna Topczewska from the Viva! Foundation. in an interview with “Fakt”. .
In exchange for the donated kidney, Saturn was to receive lifelong specialized care and treatment from the farm’s owners. Unfortunately, this did not happen. Just two months after the procedure, Joker died and Saturn was given to another person as a useless thing.
The kennel owners handed the dog over to the new caretaker, Mrs. Beata Rasmussen, claiming that the dog did not get along with their flock. Saturn’s new owner had no idea what his new charge had endured. Purebred dog owners did not inform that the dog was missing a kidney and required more careful treatment.
Thanks to animal rights activists, the case received media coverage. Another homeless dog became a donor
When Saturn’s health deteriorated, the affair came to light. The owner discovered the absence of a kidney in her animal thanks to an ultrasound. After discovering and following the story of the first innovative kidney transplant in our country, the caregiver wrote to the clinic where the procedure was performed. Having received no response or help from doctors, she decided to publicize the matter.
Animal rights activists from the Viva! Foundation were interested in the history of Saturn. They filed a report with the prosecutor’s office in 2018.
“Saturn didn’t consciously decide he wanted to save another dog’s life. This decision was made for him by people who, in my opinion, did not care at all about his fate. The shelter chose him because he was a similar size to the recipient and in excellent health, not because he was nice or because his personality fit the new family. These people first used him as a kidney donor, then got rid of him. Because they probably never really wanted to give him a home. Saturn had to follow a special diet and be under the care of a doctor for the rest of his life. And yet he did not survive until the first instance verdict” – told the story of Cezary Wyszyński, president of the Viva! Foundation.
On behalf of animal rights activists, lawyer Katarzyna Topczewska denounced the crime of animal cruelty. The report also included another kidney transplant performed by a doctor on a homeless dog. The dog Tosia, taken from the same shelter, became an organ donor for a purebred dog with a home.
Court to reexamine controversial transplant case
The prosecution filed a complaint against the doctor who performed organ transplants on dogs. Unfortunately, the court acquitted the defendant of the charges, stating that the defendant acted out of necessity, saving something more important – in the court’s opinion, the life of a purebred animal.
Animal rights activists were not about to give up. They filed an appeal, which was accepted by the court of second instance. Thanks to this, the case will be considered again in March this year. The court will review the case and decide whether this type of medical experimentation is legal.
We disagreed with this assessment and filed an appeal. A dog that does not have a home or someone to protect it cannot be a source of “spare parts” for other loved and cared for animals simply because no one cares about its fate. You cannot save the life of one animal at the expense of the health of another – explains Katarzyna Topczewska, representative of the Viva Foundation.
This unethical practice has affected millions of people. Although Saturn did not get justice, a large group of animal rights activists are fighting on his behalf and will not allow homeless animals to be treated as organ donors for “better” pedigreed animals. .
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