Some 100 sled dogs were shot in early 2010 after bookings dropped sharply for a British Columbia tour operator.
(Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press/Associated Press)
Sled dogs’ slaughter focus of Canada inquiry
Some 100 sled dogs were shot in early 2010 after bookings dropped sharply for a British Columbia tour operator.
(Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press/Associated Press)
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — An organization that fights animal abuse is condemning the slaughter of about 100 sled dogs, some badly maimed and writhing in pain, by an outdoor adventure company in British Columbia, and police are investigating.
The gruesome event was described in documents awarding compensation to a Outdoor Adventures Whistler worker who claimed posttraumatic stress disorder for having to shoot the dogs after bookings dropped sharply for a tour operator following the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Marcie Moriarty, general manager of cruelty investigations for the province’s Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, called the killings a bloodbath and said the case is the worst she’s ever had to investigate.
Both the British Columbia SPCA and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are investigating the slaughter.
Moriarty said some of the dogs were shot in the head, but others clearly suffered and did not die instantly. Moriarty said documents describe the man not killing a dog with one shot and the animal running away “with a face blown off and an eye hanging out.’’
“He had to chase her down and finish her off,’’ Moriarty said.
© Copyright 2011 Globe Newspaper Company.
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