Veterinarian Who Lost License Faces Charges

Animal regulation officials on Monday charged a Lake View Terrace man with practicing veterinary medicine without a license.

George Bernard Shaw, 65, is scheduled to be arraigned March 26 in Van Nuys Municipal Court on seven counts of unlicensed veterinary practice, two counts of animal neglect and one count of unlawful possession of controlled substances. He may face up to six months in jail for each charge and/or a fine of $1,000. Shaw’s license was revoked in 1992, according to Deputy City Atty. Don Cocek, who is handling the case.

The charges grew out of a yearlong investigation by the city’s Department of Animal Regulation and the state’s Board of Veterinary Medicine and a complaint from the Department of Sanitation about picking up an excessive number of dead animals at Shaw’s home, Cocek said.

In September, officials said an undercover state investigator took a dog to Shaw’s home seeking treatment. The investigator alleged that Shaw, who diagnosed the healthy animal as suffering from an enlarged and possibly infected prostate, offered to treat the animal with antibiotics.

When investigators later searched a Sun Valley house, Cocek said records were found indicating that Shaw had been treating animals there, including two Doberman puppies. The puppies, he said, were brought to Shaw because of mange, but had to be euthanized as their conditions worsened.