http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110131/bc_dog_slaughter_110131/20110131/?hub=BritishColumbiaHome
The B.C. SPCA is investigating "horrific" reports that a Whistler tour company slaughtered at least 100 sled dogs in a cull last year, dumping their bodies into a mass grave.
Marcie Moriarty, general manager for SPCA cruelty investigations, told ctvbc.ca that a worker at Outdoor Adventures Whistler filed a WorkSafe BC claim for post-traumatic stress after being ordered to shoot dozens of dogs to death.
"It's horrific," Moriarty said.
"I've seen some pretty terrible things, but reading this [claim], I had to put it down at times."
Moriarty said the slaughter was conducted between April 21 and 23. On his claim, the worker wrote that he had killed 70 dogs, but the company allegedly corrected that number to 100.
In the documents, the worker describes a dog that survived a shot to the face: "its eye was hanging off, and it was still running around," Moriarty said.
Another apparently dead dog was dumped into the mass grave, but the worker later noticed it trying to pull itself out.
"The fact that he did this in front of all the other dogs tethered there, I can't even imagine," Moriarty said.
Vet-supervised lethal injections would have been the humane way to cull the dogs, she added. "It is technically legal to shoot an animal, as long as it dies instantly. That most certainly did not happen in this instance."
She said the SPCA will now have to dig up the mass grave to complete its investigation, which will include the possibility of criminal charges.
Whistler RCMP Staff Sgt. Steve LeClair said police will be looking into the allegations, but said it's too early to say if there will be a criminal investigation.
Outdoor Adventures has not returned calls from ctvbc.ca..
what. the. mother. fuck. Unfortunately they have changed their contact info in the last half hour to avoid direct emails. if ANYONE is going to whistler please boycott this company and tell all others to do so as well.
