Veterinary nurse avoids being struck off after her pet husky killed her baby
A veterinary nurse whose Siberian husky killed her three-month-old daughter has avoided being struck off.
Kyra King died after Blizzard, a sled racing dog, attacked her in woods near the Lincolnshire home of her mother, Karen Alcock.
Ms Alcock, a veterinary nurse of 20 years who was said to have kept 11 dogs as pets, was at the woodland with her partner, Vince King, to train their huskies.
Without “trigger”, the dog attacked the baby, resulting in her death, a disciplinary hearing was told.
Ms Alcock, who lives in the hamlet of New York, last year pleaded guilty to being in charge of a dog that was dangerously out of control and was given an eight-month suspended sentence.
She said the loss of her daughter had been “indescribable”, but admitted she hoped to return to veterinary nursing.
Two years on from the attack, the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons has decided that Ms Alcock will not be struck off as her conviction does “not render her unfit to practice”.
Ms Alcock gave birth to Kyra on December 7, 2021, an infant who was a “very much wanted and loved baby”.
From the age of just five days old, Kyra was being taken out with Ms Alcock and Mr King to Ostler’s Plantation, a woodland where they exercised the huskies.
Describing the events of the night when she died, Nicole Curtis, representing the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, told the tribunal: “At about 11.30pm, the emergency services were called to attend the Ostler’s Plantation.
“[Ms Alcock’s] three-month-old daughter, Kyra, had been bitten by their Siberian husky dog Blizzard.
“Tragically, Kyra’s injuries were so severe it was not possible for the attending medics to treat her and she was pronounced dead at the scene.
“A post-mortem examination revealed that she had died from multiple injuries to her head and neck, including a severance of the carotid artery.”
‘Calm and sociable’
An examination of the dog in police kennels found it to be a “calm and sociable, gentle and sensitive” pet which was “not interested in playing with a toy, but did like human contact”.
However, the experts stated that the husky, which was owned formally by Mr King, was pregnant and undernourished.
The hearing was told the self-proclaimed animal lover, Ms Alcock, qualified as a veterinary nurse in 2003.
Alex Jamieson, representing the veterinary nurse, told the tribunal that Ms Alcock has been traumatised by the death of her daughter. “If punishment were merited, she has already been punished by the criminal proceedings,” he said.
“She was jointly responsible for an otherwise well-behaved and gentle dog when an unforeseeable tragic conjunction in circumstances led to an outcome that will always haunt her.”
‘Abusive relationship’
The tribunal was told in detail how Ms Alcock was in an allegedly abusive relationship with Mr King at the time, and it was for this reason that she was out with him in the woodland.
Mr Jamieson stated: “The dog did not belong to Ms Alcock. She did not want to be out in the woods that evening, but was induced to do so by a violent, coercive and controlling partner.”
