The fact that it was 10 days and not a matter of hours points to it being a flaw in procedure rather than malicious intent. Like I said way back in the thread, if it was routine to check kennels, as it is to check cells, then the oversight of any single officer wouldn't lead to a similar outcome.
I don't believe the officer should lose his/her job over this unless we're going to start applying the same standards across the board. May work on a theoretical level but not in the real world.
btw. I didn't think AndrewT's analogy with the mass slaughter of animals was silly at all. Far from it, smells of double standards and hypocrisy to say that an honest mistake should lead to someone losing their job/facing criminal charges and social stigma while munching on a mouthful of carcas.
True, I always find it a little puzzling that a lot of animal lovers also love to eat meat, and aren't bothered whether they eat free range eggs etc. I've been a veggie ever since I was 10, due to the cruel methods in factory farming etc - though that's another discussion altogether.
I think if animals are killed humanely in the name for food, then that's a different thing altogether than allowing an animal to starve to death in agony. There is no purpose behind the latter whereas at least the former is providing a 'use'...?