A former B.C. veterinarian accused of using a horse to pull a car out of a ditch has been found guilty on two counts of animal cruelty.
A Surrey provincial court judge found Mark Marohn guilty Wednesday on a criminal charge of failing to provide the necessaries for an animal and on a Prevention of Cruelty Act charge of causing an animal to continue to be in distress.
A seven-year-old horse named Buddy had to be put down after he was used to tow a vehicle that was stuck in a ditch on 208th Street in Langley. Emergency crews were able to rescue the horse after several hours, but he was deemed too thin and weak to survive.
"It was terribly upsetting for all the investigators involved," BC SPCA senior animal protection officer Eileen Drever said in a release. "We thought he might have a chance when he tried to stand a couple of times but he just couldn't muster the strength."
Both Buddy and the car were owned by Marohn and his then-wife and fellow vet Carol Schoyen-Marohn. When police attended the family farm later that day, photos were taken of five other horses that appeared to be malnourished and the SPCA seized the animals.
One horse died four days after the rescue, while the surviving four were adopted by new owners after months of rehabilitation.
Sentencing for Marohn is scheduled to begin in May. He faces up to five years in jail, a maximum $5,000 fine and a ban on owning animals, according to the SPCA.
Schoyen-Marohn is also accused in the Buddy case, but her trial was postponed after she suffered a stroke in 2010. Her trial is set to begin in October.
With files from CTV British Columbia's Michele Brunoro
