My only comfort here is knowing that the company's name (before and after it was bought out) is being spread all over mass media - and no one wants to go book an "adventure" with the company that just offed A HUNDRED DOGS in a bloody mass grave. And in all fairness the Adventure Company that bought out the original dog sledding company/kennel DID know about the cull before they bought them.
"Hey Timmy let's go for a dog sled ride! And maybe that way they won't have to kill one of the dogs this year! What do ya say buddy, won't that be fun!?!"
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Police and the B.C. SPCA are investigating "horrific" reports that the general manager for a Whistler tour company slaughtered at least 100 healthy sled dogs last year, dumping their bodies into a mass grave.
8 comments:
I read about this today. What a tragedy. They didn't deserve this, I hope they throw the book at them.
I started to read about it and then I had to stop. This is so horrific. I, too, hope they throw the book at them.
I read the story and I cannot believe what they did.
I wish they would have had a vet out to euthanize them in a humane manner. I am partially rationalizing their need to euthanize these dogs by imagining they picked dogs that were old, chronically "lame", or aggressive towards their handlers...the manner in which they did this can't be rationalized.
Playing devil's advocate, I would feel worse, if all 300 dogs were starving to death due to the decline in business...What do you do with that many working dogs who are out of work? Sled dogs (most) aren't dogs that can be adopted out to loving homes. These are dogs that have a job and are just as driven to do their jobs as a good cow dog is. They aren't family pets, most never can be. What do you do with that many "out of work" dogs? Of course something more humane than what took place. But where do they go? Who wants them?
I would like to add, although I do not have any of these dogs, I have two friends with sled dogs. One w/10 one w/12. They love their dogs. The dogs are mostly friendly towards strangers...but even these dogs aren't house dog/pet material and they are loved by someone.
Ok, I miss-spoke. I didn't read THIS article, I read two different articles on the same issue. Neither made mention of the state of the dogs health...
Jaime Hargreaves, who runs Trappers' Rung Dogsled in Whistler, says dogs that are no longer needed in her sledding business are still part of her family and aren't euthanized.
"A retired dog isn't a dog to get rid of. They stay with the family and they're treated in a respectable manner," she said, adding that her kennel holds 50 dogs at any given time.
Hargreaves believes the dogs are able to be domesticated and adopted out to a loving family.
"If I have a dog that doesn't love the sport I place it in a home," she said.
But veterinarian Dr. Chris Armstrong says the adoptability of a working Siberian Husky may not be so easy. The animals, especially those used on long sled tours, can be strong-willed, independent and prone to howling.
"Are they a little more difficult? No question. Compare it to my Labrador Retriever, oh yeah," Armstrong told ctvbc.ca in a telephone interview from her Surrey, B.C., clinic.
She says anyone thinking about adopting a retired sled dog should be aware of its unique breed traits, for better or worse.
"There are great organizations that place racing dogs like Whippets and Greyhounds into homes and they make fabulous pets. It's just a matter of matching the needs and wants of the individual," she said.
Sled dog operators admit that killing animals once they're no longer of value to the business is common practice in the industry. It is legal in Canada to euthanize an animal, as long as it is in a way considered humane.
The practice of killing unused animals in the sled dog industry has prompted the Vancouver Humane Society to call for a ban on Canadian operations altogether.
"If you can't guarantee a humane life from beginning to end than you shouldn't be in business," Peter Fricker told ctvbc.ca.
https://snowcapssleddogs.com/Adoption_FAQ_s.html
To me I don't feel "better" that they only killed 100 dogs instead of 300 - we have to draw a line. 100 dogs is too many and 300 dogs is too many. The original sledding company is trying to make the case that they where sooooooo broke that the 300 dogs were doing to starve if they didn't do something - but pulled financials have proved the while the company was losing money - it was for sale and did in fact have the funds to continue feeding the dogs. To make the company look more attractive to potential buyers like The Outdoor Adventure Company they needed to control their losses and this is how they choose to do it.
My point being that the mentality of industry allowed them to acquired that many dogs to make as much money as possible off of the business traffic from the Olympics knowing if all else fails they could just get rid of the "out of work" dogs. To me that's irresponsible ownership. You shouldn't acquire an animal under the premise that when its not making enough money, or you don't have enough money to feed it, or if it gets annoying - you can just kill it.
What I am hoping for here is that the industry follows what individuals have been doing for years and takes a good hard look at the responsibility of ownership.
It's a sad situation that most animals used for profit seem to be facing these days. Look at the Hairpin Cavy in Montana. The owner was quoted as saying he wouldn't sell his horses for $200 a head and called off an auction. I've seen head counts for the horses upwards of 500. 500 head at $200 a piece bringing in roughly $100,000 wasn't enough...so the old bastard let them starve....
When animals are a for profit business shady things happen to them to make the bottom line either appear better to investors or to actually ease the burden of not controlling your "inventory"(for lack of a better word).
It seems that with all of the publicity this is now bringing to that industry, we should see legislation making things better.
I'm with you in hoping reform and compassion is brought out by this horrific turn of events.
I do NOT agree with how this situation was handled. However I do feel for the employee. Tough call to make in this economy, follow orders and feed my family or take the high road.
What gets me is how it seems he is getting made out as the villain, what about the actual company? And what about the SPCA? They're no angels in this either... that employee tried to do right by those dogs including contacting the SPCA at least twice, and being turned down because the dogs wouldn't make good pets and weren't adoptable. He tried placing the dogs himself and he did try to get a vet to euth the dogs but that vet refused to cull healthy animals (so I guess it wasn't older or sickly dogs being put down)
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