A rogue vet, who has been operating without a licence, has upset the veterinary community, but many of his clients say he is an expert with a gift.
Anthony Balomenos has previously been charged with practising without a veterinary licence and was banned many years ago from working at racetracks. He recently started working as a vet again, focusing on horses, but also operating on all types of animals.
Animal hospitals and community members started to complain about him, however, when they realised he was not registered. E-mails went out warning people not to use him. Complaints have also reached the South African Veterinary Council.
Balomenos said he is competent. “I have done a lot of horse work. I can be considered an expert. Unfortunately I have never been registered as a vet,” he told The Star.
He said he studied to be a vet in Greece but didn’t write his final exam.
“I have been doing this for 25 years. I can do just about any operation. I have saved countless animals,” said Balomenos.
Word of mouth spread and his services were in demand.
Balomenos said he never gave up, long after most vets already had.
“I have a gift for it, for working with animals. I have done thousands of operations. I was called in as an expert after other vets said nothing could be done. I like to help. I’m the type of person who doesn’t like to see people or animals suffer.”
He said his prices were far cheaper than those of ordinary veterinarians and this started upsetting the animal hospitals in the area.
“I started becoming so popular, I would get 10 phone calls a day. I did good work. People were happy, they SMSed me to say thank you. After they sent out e-mails warning people about me, I became even more popular. On one day I did 11 hysterectomies.”
He said a woman at the SA Veterinary Council had not helped him.
“I asked her what I needed to do to be able to work without getting into trouble. She never helped him, he said.”
He said it wasn’t true that he has botched operations.
Only about five of the approximately 2 000 animals he has worked on had died.
Yvonne Perkins owns horses and said she knew he wasn’t registered when she called him, but he came highly recommended.
“He took care of many of my horses. I took one of my horses to a specialist but they said they couldn’t save him, then Anthony came in and he managed to save the horse.
“He worked on quite a few of my horses and we never had one death. He is very, very good,” Perkins said.
Sue Billet has similar praise for Balomenos, although she said she has heard complaints that operations had gone horribly wrong.
“He is absolutely amazing. I have heard the complaints and know a friend who sent out an e-mail warning people against him. I have heard there were one or two cases where things didn’t turn out well, but in my own experience he has a real gift,” Billet said.
She said three horses on her property had African horse disease, and a vet treated one horse, but he died.
“I then called Anthony in, and the two horses he worked on survived. I have never seen such commitment. He was determined that those horses would not die. He sat with them for three days with the drips and made sure they pulled though,” Billet said.
She said he also saved her golden retriever from biliary and helped a horse which many vets had proclaimed to be lame.
“I bought the ‘lame’ horse for R50 000. She is now worth R250 000 thanks to Anthony,” Billet said.
The president of the South African Equine Veterinary Association, Bennie van der Merwe, said
: “He happens to be breaking the law. It’s as basic as that.”
Van der Merwe added he had been told that Balomenos had botched operations “like you can’t believe”.
“His botched efforts have been rushed off to animal hospitals all over the area, where vets have to try and fix them. Of course he offered services at buck-free rates so people went to him,” said Van der Merwe.
He said that because Balomenos was not registered as a vet, the only real charge that could be laid against him was under the Animal Cruelty Act. - The Star