WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
A Singapore-born Adelaide veterinarian who admitted consuming dog semen has been allowed to continue practising with conditions.
Dr Marcus Wei Sheng Tan faced the South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal in October, and the tribunal ruled in December in a recently published judgement that he be fined $5,000, reprimanded, ordered to pay hearing costs and given restrictions on where he can work for five years.
Dr Tan did not dispute that he sprayed animal semen from a syringe into his mouth in September 2020, but said he did it out of “sheer curiousity” about the taste, and denied having any sexual attraction to animals.
“I kind of got curious, you know, in my mind, that, that because if there’s salt in there, is it going to taste salty? So, that was my main, sort of, motivation. Is for me to find out, basically, about its taste,” he said.
In cross-examination he said there was no sexual aspect to his actions, agreed they was “unprofessional” and would be repulsive to the public, but did not agree he acted unethically.
The tribunal also heard Dr Tan had never been in an intimate relationship, that he was sexually attracted to men and not women, and that he had homosexual fantasies.
The manager at Dr Tan’s veterinary practice told the tribunal she had seen inappropriate images of dogs on his phone, which she asked him to delete as they violated patient confidentiality. No police action was taken due to lack of evidence.
Dr Tan was also found to have inappropriately touched animals in his care, but other allegations regarding the euthanisia of a puppy and another case of alleged inappropriate touching were not found to be proven by the tribunal.
