Healthy sled dogs slaughtered in Whistler

business, criminal, employee, expected, because

Healthy sled dogs slaughtered in Whistler
SPCA calling for criminal charges
News1130 Staff Jan 31, 2011 09:18:05 AM
25 Comment(s)  0 Recommendation(s) WHISTLER (NEWS1130) - The SPCA says this is horrifying, calling the incident a massacre.  One hundred healthy sled dogs were slaughtered by an employee of a tourism operator in the Whistler-area.

The dogs were apparently put down last April because Outdoor Adventures Whistler didn't get the boost in business expected after the 2010 Olympics.

Marcie Moriarty with the SPCA tells News1130 an investigation is being launched.  "We'll have to be able to locate this 'mass grave.'  In my opinion, what was done was absolutely criminal.  And whether that extends to the person who ordered the worker to do this, maybe not legally, but I think morally."

She adds the worker who killed the dogs went to WorkSafe BC claiming post-traumatic stress.  "His comments describe how these animals were, with their heads blown off, half crawling.  They most certainly did not die instantly, at least some of them."

The lawyer for the man who killed the dogs spoke with CityTV.  He tried to explain his client's actions.  "He's really an expert in dogs and... is an extremely caring person.  He loved these dogs like a person I've never seen and unfortunately, the only way to put it, he found himself backed into a corner."

Corey Steinberg with the Double Diamond Law Corporation adds the man did try to find homes for the dogs, and tried to find a veterinarian to euthanize the animals humanely, but was ultimately left to 'do it on his own.'

The SPCA is now demanding criminal charges be laid.