In what is the most disturbing tale of the aftershocks of the economic downturn, in Canada an outdoor adventure company is being investigated for the “execution-style” mass killing of 100 of its sled dogs. The sled dogs were not as in demand after the Olympic Games in Vancouver were over, so, when the tourists went, the dogs had to go too, reports the Vancouver Sun.
The cullings were ordered after a slump in tourist traffic led to a fall-off in demand for the company’s dog sled tours. The SPCA is investigating the slayings, most of which were conducted by mass shootings in front of the other dogs.
The story came out following a successful worker’s comp claim filed by the worker who was ordered to kill the dogs and said he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder afterwards.
“By the end he was covered in blood,” read the review board’s decision. “When he finished he cleared up the mess, filled in the mass grave and tried to bury the memories as deeply as he could.”
The company said it knew the dogs were to be destroyed but did not know about the manner in which it was conducted. They also said the company did not keep a gun on the premises.
In his claim, the man spoke of his emotional attachment to the dogs. He and his family sleep and live in the same area where the dogs are kept. Part of the man’s job duties included thinning the herd and had tried to find new owners but couldn’t give away that number of dogs. Previously the man had culled weak or sick dogs by taking them for a walk and giving them a nice meal to distract them while he euthanized them with his gun. However, this time he wasn’t able to do that because of how many dogs he had to get rid of, so he had to shoot them while they were all chained up together. By the 15th dog, the other dogs began to panic and some started to attack him.
The review board noted that the “‘mass cull’ was unique in its size, not only in respect of the workers’ experience but in all of Canada.”
“I’ve no doubt he has suffered post traumatic stress but there’s a thing called choice,” head of British Columbia’s SPCA cruelty investigations division Marcie Moriarty told the Vancouver Sun. “I absolutely would not have done this and he could have said no. This is a Criminal Code offence … I don’t feel sorry for this guy for one minute.”
The outdoor adventure company said that going forward all euthanizations will be conducted in a vet’s office.
SPCA investigates slaughter of 100 Whistler sled dogs [Vancouver Sun] (Thanks to stylerm!)
More From Consumerist
-
A Rancid Dairy Queen Hot Dog In A Moldy Bun Is As Disgusting As One Might Imagine
-
Sorry Your Dog’s Food Had Metal Bits In It, Our Metal Detector Was On The Fritz
-
Pepsi To Replace Coke In Costco’s Beloved $1.50 Soda & Hot Dog Deal
-
Study Says All Your Snuffling & Sneezing Could Give Mr. Whiskers McKittyton The Flu
-
Ann Taylor Says It Was Misinformed The First Time It Issued A Statement On Guide Dogs
He… successfully… got workers comp. I can’t deal with that. What a monster.
Why is he a monster? Is the guy working in the slaughterhouse a monster too? Or the farm hand that does a similar job?
People have an odd idea about morale, doing the same thing is is both acceptable and atrocious at the same time.
That the guy who did the job ended up with PTSD should show you that it wasn’t an easy task for him either, nor that he “enjoyed” it.
Also, to think that this is a “one off” and “only happens in Whistler” is probably far from the truth as well.
In all fairness culling probably happens to sheep and cows and lots of other domesticated animals.
It could have been done in a less grisly fashion though.
I am sick to my stomach over this…
You know what, everyone involved should go to jail, including the guy who killed them. I’m GLAD the guy suffers from post traumatic stress disorder. I hope he carries that with him for the rest of his life for killing those animals. I also hope the company goes bankrupt and the parties involved in the killings are behind bars.
Agreed with Ms. Moriarty.
And here I thought the United States had cornered the market on insensitive fucking murrdering assholes.
Guess I was wrong.
I am not against hunting, ranching, he’ll even rodeos don’t bother me to much but this… This is just wrong on many, many levels.
I will go home tonight and hug my dogs and cry just a little bit, they won’t understand why I cry and God help me I hope they never do.
I know it probably doesn’t matter to you since you’re all angry and stuff, but uh the United States has only been in existance for a few hundred years. EVERYONE ELSE in the world, on the other hand, has been killing and pillaging for thousands of years before that.
After having said how un-adoptable these dogs are, I will point out that there are MANY Husky rescue organizations. There are people who know and love these dogs and are experienced in handling them. THAT should be where they take them, not a vet.
The comments parsing whether an animal should be killed or more easily killed etc based on their perceived intelligence (read: their usefulness to humans) is making me shake my head.
Regardless of your views about animals, shooting them is unacceptable.
How do you think slaughterhouses do it? Usually it’s a bolt to the head which doesn’t kill the animal but rather stuns it, then they get their throat cut and they bleed out and because of the line speed and because it takes some skill to correctly stun the animals it can and does happen that the animal gets its throat cut while still being conscious and aware.
Shooting the animal into the head and destroying the brain is probably the more humane way of killing them (outside of injecting them a lethal dose of tranquilizer).
Yes, shooting them in the head can be humane if the first destroys the brain. I highly doubt that is possible to do anywhere near a 100 times first shot. Being far enough away from the traumatized, attacking, wildly bucking animal without getting hit from bone fragments or inflicting many painful injuries instead would be near impossible. I doubt you could even hit the head even in the snout, mouth or eyes let alone the brain reliably from any safe distance.
http://www.calgarysun.com/news/columnists/michael_platt/2011/01/31/17104521.html
my description pretty much describes what happened.
Those poor pups
And here I thought the United States had cornered the market on insensitive fucking murrdering assholes.
Guess I was wrong.
I am not against hunting, ranching, he’ll even rodeos don’t bother me to much but this… This is just wrong on many, many levels.
I will go home tonight and hug my dogs and cry just a little bit, they won’t understand why I cry and God help me I hope they never do.
This just makes me sick.
I’d like to point something out:
We regularly “destroy” thousands of farm animals for just as bad a reason. Look up “Foot & Mouse disease” as one example.
If you’re upset about 100 dogs you should be seriously upset about those animals too.
agreed. I’m not big on animal cruelty but I’m definitely anti-hypocrite, which is every single commenter pretending to be outraged. If you want to play it like you’re appalled then be consistent in your actions.
Fucking Canada. All the mushers that are going to be in the Iditarod in AK this year should mush down there and beat the holy crap out of them.
Any human who can pull off such a feat is a danger to society. To develop a relationship with the dogs and ultimately kill them in the back of their heads? Why not just set them free and give them a fighting chance? Maybe at least they will become bear food, and serve a greater purpose than to become dead carcasses frozen under the ground. Shame on this guy.
And this is an incident that was made public. Think about all the others that didn’t. Or other mass murderers floating out there like this is a normal or no big deal way to thin a herd.
When this guy makes it to hell I’m sure he will have at least 100 friends when he makes it there.
Maybe now that they’re killing cute widdle doggies people will finally care about how horrible The Olympics are.
Here are more disgusting details which includes wounded dogs running around for 20 minutes. live dogs thrown in the pit/mass grave and throat slitting while holding/’hugging’ the dog. And this particular article seems to leave open the premise that he wasn’t told to slaughter them. But other articles say his responsibilities include herd control. I just can’t garner any sympathy for this guy because actions were repeated times 100.
http://www.calgarysun.com/news/columnists/michael_platt/2011/01/31/17104521.html
As bad as slaughterhouses might be this is no way to die for anyone or any animal.
Dear Canada,
ur doin it wrong
Love,
Internet
The rest of Canada is just as disgusted at this story. You can’t paint all of us with the same brush, y’know.
When this company goes under because they lose all their business after this… what’s going to happen to the *remaining* 200 dogs?
Yet another reason I hate most people. Heartless, cruel, greedy, wastes of space!
What did they think would happen after the Olympics were gone? What kind of person disposes of animals like that? Chained up and shooting them while the others freak out. I’m not big on suing but from the description I can understand why the dude is PTSD.
I cried when I read this story.
Destory the company.
Destory the killer.
Don’t sit around and whine and wring hands and cry.
This is over the top evil like many things are and we must
deal with them in the proper way. If you mistreat and kill
animals that you use in your business you better make
downsizing the animals part of your little Gen X/Y business
plan because if we catch ‘ya, you’re gonna down the same
road as your “beloved” animals.
Stop cruelty NOW!
Disgusting… Selectively inhibit this guy’s seratonin reuptake if necessary, but send him to pound-me-in-the-ass prison. And for good measure, the entire executive chain of this f*cked up outfit should do some time too, just for the sake of making an example of them.
Perhaps the Canadian government should look into banning sled dog tours for good measure. Snowmobile tours would be more fun anyhow FTW!
Why do I read stories like this?
I’m gonna go hug my dogs.
Went straight home and hugged my Siberian Husky.