[originaltext] Veterinary SurgeonInterviewer: Mr. Bacon

Veterinary Surgeon
Interviewer: Mr. Bacon, what is your job exactly?
Veterinarian: I’m a veterinary surgeon in general practice, looking after all different sorts of animals —sheep, goats, pigs, horses, dogs, cats —we even have some lions and tigers at the zoo... er and we have a few bears, wolves, otters —you name it we look after it.
Interviewer: What sort of pets do people mainly bring to your surgery?
Veterinarian: Well, mostly it’s going to be dogs and cats but then we have snakes and parrots and rats and ferrets and all other animals that people keep as pets.
Interviewer: You mention snakes —why do you think people keep snakes? What ’s the attraction in that?
Veterinarian: Well, I quite like snakes but I wouldn’t actually want one as a pet, um... I think ... some people are very keen on snakes, they like having them.
Interviewer: Maybe they are keeping them to frighten other people. All right, Mr. Bacon, now the British people have a reputation for being very animal-minded. Do you think the British spend more money on their animals than their children?
Veterinarian: It depends on the people. Some people are very good with their animals, some people are reasonable with their animals, some go absolutely over the top and treat them far better than they would their children, and unfortunately there are a group of people that are cruel to their animals and so we do a certain amount of work with the Royal-RSPCA.
Interviewer: What experience have you had of people who treat their animals too well?
Veterinarian: Lots of animals come in for surgery with lipstick marks on their head —we regard that as a specific sort of condition here and we always make a comment on it.
Interviewer: Do you think animals are good for people’s health?
Veterinarian: Well, of late we now talk about companion animals rather than pets and certainly people are taking dogs and cats into hospitals, to old people’s homes where a social contact is needed and this sort of patting of animals seems to help old people, and certainly we have old people who have budgerigars and other small animals and they’re very much their life —they maybe see one person every two days but their animal is with them all the time, and it’s a companion.
Interviewer: Do animals ever attack you when you’re handling them?
Veterinarian: get hurt by animals, scratched and bitten by cats, bitten by dogs, and my partner recently got’ very badly hurt by a horse —so we have a dangerous job as well as an enjoyable job. I think probably the thing I like best about it is delivering new animals. It never fails to amaze me how one moment you can have one mother and the next moment you can have a pile of animals and, I think the day I don’t get pleasure out of delivering new born animals I shall give up.
Interviewer: But you’re still very much interested in your job?
Veterinarian: Oh, I love it. I would like a lot less paperwork, and I’d like just to do veterinary medicine, but unfortunately you take on a sort of package.
Interviewer: OK, thank you very much indeed.