A prominent animal rights group called for a ban on sled dog tours Monday following the news that 100 healthy sled dogs were killed in a horrific mass slaughter by a Whistler, B.C. tour company.
Police and the B.C. SPCA launched an investigation after reports an employee dumped the bodies into a mass grave after shooting and stabbing the animals. The unnamed employee has filed a claim with WorkSafe BC, claiming post-traumatic stress.
Documents show at least one dog had its eye hanging out of the socket after surviving being shot in the face. The canines panicked as they watched the others being killed, and some tried to attack the worker.
Peter Fricker of the Vancouver Humane Society calls the details "absolutely shocking."
"This is what happens when animals are exploited for profit and become surplus to requirements when business is bad," Fricker said.
"We see this all the time. This is just an extreme example. They just wash their hands of it."
The Worksafe BC claim states the dogs were killed because of a slow winter season for sled dog tours following the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.
Like pet owners, Fricker said sled dog companies should be responsible for the cradle to grave care of an animal.
"It seems like a perfectly normal thing to expect of people but in industries where animals are used for entertainment or profit this just isn't the case," he said.
The operator of Candle Creek Kennels at Big White, near Kelowna, B.C., rejects the idea of a ban on tours.
"These dogs love to do what they do," Tim Tedford told CTV News. "That's what they were born and bred for. To take that away from them would be cruel in my opinion."
The SPCA in B.C. says it isn't impressed with most sled-dog businesses, but stopped short of calling for a ban.
"In B.C. we come across far more dogs in horrible conditions in the name of quote-unquote dog-sledding operations," said Marcie Moriarty, general manager of cruelty investigations.
"It's hard given stories like today for me to say this, but there are good sled-dogging operations out there. I have seen them."
The Vancouver Humane Society said it would support the government regulation of the sled dog industry instead of an outright ban.
Fricker said the industry would be improved greatly if there were a regulatory agency that could set standards for the care, keeping and humane euthanasia of the animals.
"If it guaranteed that only sick and injured animals would be euthanized and that it would only be done by a vet, and this would all be monitored through an inspection system – that would be great, but it's not going to happen because of cost."
