Yakutsk activist demands Vetpolis apology
The clinic maintained the cats rescued after the fire were in satisfactory condition.
A representative of the Vetpolis Veterinary Clinic («Vetpolis») asked 14.RU to remove the previous story about animal activist Alexandra allegedly attacking their employee. The clinic said it is changing its stance because it wants to find a peaceful solution with the volunteer. Aitalina, a clinic representative, told 14.RU this on 26 September.
Earlier, the clinic claimed that a campaign of harassment against its veterinarians had started online after the activist’s allegedly false accusations about poor-quality service at their clinic. She contacted them on 21 September — bringing in 13 cats after a fire at a temporary shelter at Khalturina, 22.
Initially, Aitalina insisted that the animals had received full treatment, for which the volunteer paid an advance of 20,000 rubles (about $200 at current rates), but that she was ultimately dissatisfied with the service and also attacked the administrator. The clinic wrote about this conflict in its Telegram channel «Vetpolis» and circulated online a video showing the moment of the fight between the activist and the administrator.
However, the activist told 14.RU that all allegations against her are baseless and that she was slandered. According to Alexandra, she did not attack the employee — it was the administrator who allegedly pushed her first. Although that moment did not make it onto the surveillance video, Alexandra maintains the entire confrontation was recorded on her phone and she can present it if necessary.
The clinic said the activist attacked the administrator and dragged her by the hair.
«When someone grabs you from behind and shoves you, you fight back. I understand I lost my temper by grabbing her in response, but the aggression initially came from the administrator. The staff insulted me, saying: “Why are you bulging your eyes?”, standing there mocking me and making faces. Yes, I raised my voice, but I was outraged that my cats weren’t given the treatment I paid for. My only fault is that I rose to the provocation,» Alexandra believes.
The volunteer added that she did not invent the infectious ward — clinic staff themselves told her about it; she has the correspondence — and that, in her view, the animals still did not receive proper treatment.
Along with all this, Alexandra allegedly warned Aitalina that unless they published a retraction and apologized to her publicly, and deleted all comments and posts on social media, she would go to the media and upload video from the clinic, including the moment of the confrontation with the administrator.
Indeed, by the time this piece was published, the previous post in the «Vetpolis» Telegram channel about Alexandra’s alleged attack had already been removed.
The clinic has already deleted this post from its Telegram channel.
«Aitalina apologized to me and promised to publish a retraction. She admitted she had only listened to her staff, and in fact it turned out I was not to blame — the clinic was. And now they will have to clean up what they stirred up — this whole circus on the internet,» Alexandra told a 14.RU correspondent.
Notably, at the beginning of this story there was no mention of a conflict between clinic staff and the activist — Alexandra spoke only about poor-quality service and did not at that time mention insults or assaults.
«My shelter burned down. I just came to save my animals. As a result I became notorious across the internet, was blamed for everything and shamed. All I need to be doing now is stabilizing my animals, and these online publications are of no interest to me. I don’t want anything to do with this. They said they would write retractions in every public channel and delete all articles about me,» Alexandra said.
Alexandra maintains the cats did not receive the treatment she paid for.
The activist added that Aitalina had allegedly promised to reimburse the money spent on treating the 13 cats, explaining that on that night a fill-in employee from another veterinary clinic had been working there and that perhaps for this reason the care was not provided properly.
Alexandra also filed a police report on 21 September, accusing the clinic of providing substandard medical services. She has not yet decided whether she will withdraw it.
«I am waiting for a public apology. If they punish the staff for such behavior, then maybe I will withdraw the complaint. But if nothing changes and employees keep taking money without providing services to other clients, then I will probably have to continue this dispute,» Alexandra added.
Aitalina does not yet want to deny or confirm the activist’s statements. She told 14.RU that she had spoken with Alexandra and is now seeking a “peaceful solution”.
«We will meet with Alexandra on Monday; after that we will be ready to comment. Overall the situation is truthful,» the clinic representative said, without clarifying on whose side the truth lay.
