Margaret Doyle

Margaret Doyle attended UCD from 2004 to 2009, graduating with an MVB (Degree in Veterinary Medicine). After graduating, Margaret moved home to Canada to work in a small animal first opinion practice. She was immediately drawn to practice management and opened her first practice in 2010. Shortly after striking out on her own, Margaret fell into assisting on an investigation involving a severely neglected dog while covering a shift at the local Humane Society. It was a truly eye-opening experience for Margaret, and one that left her disheartened by the level of human depravity but also inspired to fill a gap in the provision of veterinary services to the community, ensuring that abused and neglected animals had a voice. 

Margaret subsequently enrolled in the University of Florida's Veterinary Forensics programme and in 2010, she established Canada’s first veterinary forensic consulting firm, providing services from crime scene analysis and photography to live exams and necropsies.  Since then, Margaret has been involved in large scale hoarding seizures, dog fighting investigations, and has worked with the medical examiners office on files involving human and animal victims. Her work has helped create case law and establish institutions that continue to evolve and elevate animal welfare in Canada. 

In 2014, Margaret worked on a case where they successfully used DNA evidence from animals to convict an individual for the killing of his domestic partners cat and a dog. The case garnered national media attention and with funds donated as a result of this, a training facility for Canadian Crown Prosecutors was established - The National Centre for the Prosecution of Animal Crimes (NCPAC) now houses reference materials for prosecutors and allied professionals across Canada and it also provides training opportunities to anyone involved in the prosecution of animal crimes and a biannual conference for national collaboration. 

In 2017, Margaret joined the Canadian violence Link Coalition as a presenter and as a member of the steering committee, bringing a veterinary voice to this coalition which aims to educate the public and inform legislation around one health initiatives directed to target family and community violence. In 2019, the coalition successfully lobbied the government to amend bestiality laws in Canada and to mandate Violence Link training for judges and justices in every level of court. This work earned Margaret the recognition of the local police association and a community policing award in 2017.  She currently trains front line officers, social workers, prosecutors and veterinarians on the overlap between animal abuse and other forms of violence. 

In 2018, Margaret became the first person in Canada to be qualified in federal court to provide expert witness testimony in the field of veterinary forensics, routinely attending court for both prosecution and defense to assist in their understanding of the veterinary aspects of animal involved cases. 

Animal welfare has become a focus of Margaret's career and she joined the provincial animal welfare committee through Canada's governing veterinary body in 2014. While chair of the committee in 2019, regulations were passed that mandate the reporting of suspected cases of animal abuse and neglect by veterinarians within the province of Alberta. This resulted in a 500% increase in clinic initiated investigations in the first 3 months - the effect on animal welfare from this legislation is immeasurable.

While completing her Masters, Margaret sold her first practice and took on a partnership in a four practice group.  The group have recently taken on ambitious expansion projects building a new urgent care facility and tripling the size and capacity of Margaret's home hospital, the Riverbend Animal Hospital.  The clinics are part of the distributed veterinary learning centre which trains final year students from the Vet College and this work was awarded the Alberta Veterinary Medical Association provincial mentorship award for 2021.