Is there no end to man’s cruelty to animals? The following report (from a story that appeared on today’s Vancouver Sun) is sickening in its own right. That it happened in Canada, a country that I have grown to love, makes it doubly painful to read.
(This story is particularly gory in its details. Caution is advised.)
Police are investigating the slaughter of 100 husky dogs used during the 2010 Winter Olympics to pull tourist sleds in the Canadian ski resort of Whistler, authorities said Monday.
The grisly killings were reportedly carried out by one worker over two days in April 2010 with a shotgun and a knife, with reports of injured dogs crawling out of a mass grave.
Local media said the dogs were killed because business slumped in the two months following the Games and they were no longer needed by tourism companies Outdoor Adventures and Howling Dogs, which sell dog-sled rides to tourists.
The man responsible for the "execution-style" cull of 100 sled dogs that were no longer of use to the Whistler-based company "due to a slow winter" season had known a lot of the dogs. He is so traumatized by the slaughter that he now suffers from nightmares, panic attacks and depression, according to a confidential workers ‘ compensation review decision obtained by the Vancouver Sun.
The unidentified man said he had raised many of the 300 dogs owned by his employer, in fact, naming many of them. But over a two-day period in late April 2010, he agree to carry out the orders from his employer to euthanize some of them because part of his job duties "included herd control."
The BC SPCA is launching an investigation of the cull.
In the document, the man thought he had put down 30 per cent of the company's herd — approximately 70 animals — but the employer’s report of injury to the animals, filed with the review board in May, stated it had actually been 100 dogs.
The information became known after the employee filed for workers’ compensation after developing post-traumatic stress disorder for allegedly being forced to kill the dogs — potentially after bookings slumped following the 2010 Olympic Games.
A veterinarian had been contacted but refused to participate in the cull of healthy animals.
The report also stated the man tasked with the job tried to adopt out the dogs but with limited success.
"In the past, his practice when euthanizing a dog was to take it for a walk in the woods and give them a nice meat meal to distract them. That would make for a calm environment and kept the dogs away from the general population so as not to disrupt them. He would use a gun to euthanize the dogs," the report states.
However, because of the large number of dogs, he said he was forced to euthanize the dogs in full view of the other animals. By about the 15th dog, it appeared to him "the dogs were experiencing anxiety and stress from observing the euthanasia of other members of the pack and were panicking."
As a result of the panic, a dog named Susie was only wounded by the employee.
"Susie was the mother of his family's pet dog 'Bumble.' He had to chase Suzie through the yard because the horrific noise she made when wounded caused him to drop the leash,” the report states. “Although she had the left side of her cheek blown off . . . he was unable to catch her. He then obtained a gun with a scope and used it to shoot her when she settled down close to another group of dogs."
It also states when he went to get the dog, he was bitten in the arm. After disposing of Suzie's body, he returned and noticed another dog — named Poker — that was special to him and not slated to be euthanized had been accidentally shot.
"Poker was covered in blood from a neck wound and covered in his own feces. He believed Poker suffered for approximately 15 minutes before he could be put down," the report states.
The employee had put down about 55 dogs on April 21, and by the end of the day, the dogs were so panicked they were biting him and he had to wrap his arms in foam to prevent injury.
"He also had to perform what he described as ‘execution-style’ killings where he wrestled the dogs to the ground and stood on them with one foot to shoot them. The last few kills were ‘multiple-shot’ killings as he was simply unable to get a clean shot,” the report says. “He described a guttural sound he had never heard before from the dogs and fear in their eyes."
But the killings on April 23 were described as "worse" than two days earlier because the herd's fear and anxiety began almost immediately.
On that day, the first significant killing happened to a dog named Nora, who he had shot 20 minutes earlier and put into the mass grave. He noticed her crawling around amid the 10 or so bodies already there so had to climb down into the grave and "put her out of her misery."
At that point, the reports states he "wanted nothing more than to stop the 'nightmare,' but he continued because he had been given a job to finish and did not want to prolong the suffering and anxiety of the whole kennel population. He stated that he felt 'numb.'"
His last memory of killing the final 15 dogs was "fuzzy" and in some cases he felt it was simpler to "get behind the dogs and slit their throats and let them bleed out."
The report states he was “covered” in blood by the end.
"When he finished he cleared up the mess, filled in the mass grave and tried to bury the memories as deeply as he could."
Five days after the final culling, he sought treatment from a clinical counsellor who indicated he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
His family physician also indicated the worker — who resides at the same location as the dogs with his family — complained of "panic attacks, nightmares, sleep disturbances, anger, irritability and depressed mood since culling approximately 100 dogs."
Marcie Moriarty, head of the BC SPCA cruelty-investigations division, said the man, the general manager of Outdoor Adventures at the time, could have simply said no.
"I've no doubt he has suffered post-traumatic stress but there's a thing called choice. I absolutely would not have done this and he could have said no,” she said. “This is a criminal-code offense and to have just stopped. I don't feel sorry for this guy for one minute.”
Moriarty said the SPCA began investigating the culling this weekend after CKNW radio provided her with a heavily censored WCB report.
WCB spokeswoman Donna Freeman said she cannot confirm a claim has been filed by any party because it would be "considered private because they're medical files."
Moriarty said while RCMP have been contacted about the culling, the BC SPCA are the lead investigators and will be executing warrants to obtain further information.
They plan to uncover the mass grave to examine the dogs' remains but can't do that immediately because the ground is frozen under several feet of snow.
In a statement, Outdoor Adventures spokesman Graham Aldcroft said there are no firearms on site and any time a sled dog is euthanized in the future, it will be done in a vet's office. "While we were aware of the relocation and euthanization of dogs at ‘Howling Dog Tours,’ we were completely unaware of the details of the incident until reading the WCB document Sunday," he said.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The maximum penalty in Canada for injuring or endangering an animal is five years in jail, while animal cruelty is punishable by a fine and 18 months in jail.
