The bloody lesson of the Whistler sled dog slaughter
British Columbia's premier has taken a strong line on this dog cull. But what about the routine horrors of trophy hunting in BC?
Chris Genovali
Monday 7 February 2011
The widespread outrage over the execution-style murders of 100 sled dogs in Whistler, British Columbia is not only warranted, it is an important sign that a significant number of people both in Canada and worldwide are still in touch with a clear sense of right and wrong in this disconnected era of moral relativity. As a lifelong dog-lover, I was particularly sickened to hear of this twisted and terrible event; I was also struck by the irony of Premier Gordon Campbell's response:

"The tragic and disturbing details that have emerged around how these dogs were inhumanely treated are not acceptable t British Columbians or to their government. No creature should ever have to suffer in the manner that has been reported, and we want to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again in our province."

Appropriate and admirable comments by the premier, no doubt. But upon closer examination, one cannot escape contrasting Campbell's justifiable concern for the murdered Whistler sled dogs and his demonstrable lack of concern for all the wild "creatures" in British Columbia. This is especially true for large carnivores such as grizzlies, wolves, black bears and cougars, which are relentlessly subjected to intense suffering and inhumane treatment via trophy hunting throughout the province, year after year, after year.

For instance, coastal grizzly bears are shot during the fall hunt – essentially, ambush-style, often from blinds overlooking feeding sites where these animals are focused on readying themselves for winter by intently fishing for salmon. Alternatively, they are killed during the spring hunt on estuaries where the bears are recovering from winter and grazing on protein-rich plant foods.

With its reliance on technology, the sport hunting of coastal grizzlies often resembles some sort of high-tech war effort and has been characterised by wildlife scientists as "a search and destroy mission". And the trophy-hunting lobby calls it "fair chase".

Wolves are killed for purposes of recreational hunting and lethal predator control by being shot (sometimes from helicopters), trapped and strangled in snares. Infrequent requirements for checking traps and snares results in the prolonged suffering of captured animals. Although some cougars are killed opportunistically by hunters seeking other species such as deer, most are killed with the use of hounds that trail, chase and tree cougars, with "sportsmen" subsequently shooting the big cats at close range. Black bears are also subjected to hound hunting, and like grizzlies, cougars and wolves, they are targets of bow hunting, as well.

None of this accounts for the pain and agony of wounded and injured animals that do not die immediately from the errant gun and archery shots of trophy hunters.

The uncomfortable truth is that when it comes to the management of big wildlife in BC, it is simply a bloodbath. Codified by provincial policy, top predators are targeted for termination to satisfy the recreational and entertainment needs of both resident and non-resident large carnivore killers. There are very few refuge zones for large carnivores where hunting is not allowed. Most parks and protected areas in the province permit the trophy hunting of these animals. Annually, some 250 cougars, 300 grizzlies, 800 wolves and 1,000 plus black bears are shot, trapped and otherwise dispatched by sport hunters. So-called control kills by the province, as well as illegal kills by poachers, are additive mortality to the aforementioned trophy hunting statistics for these species.

So, back to the premier. Upon taking office in 2001, Premier-elect Campbell promised and delivered on a commitment to overturn the shortlived moratorium on grizzly bear hunting during the first 90 days of his Liberal government, without any ecological, economic or ethical justification. Despite widespread support for the grizzly hunt moratorium from the independent scientific community, the tourism industry, conservation organisations, First Nations and the general public, Campbell chose to acquiesce to an extremist minority of sport hunters who favour killing grizzlies for fun and profit.

The question now arises: does his expression of concern over the Whistler sled dog massacre signal that his party's views on animal suffering, whether wild or domestic in nature, have evolved since coming to power a decade ago? One can only hope.

Photograph: AP Photo/Darryl Dyck

 

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‘Just following orders’ is never a defense for immoral acts
By Walter Brasch
Feb 4, 2011
A man who killed 100 sled dogs has received not a prison sentence but workers’ compensation from a British Columbia agency. The man successfully proved he suffered post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after he claimed he was ordered to kill the dogs. “It was the worst experience [he] could ever imagine, his lawyer told CKNW, Vancouver, which had obtained the government document and then contacted the Humane Society.

Howling Dog Tours Whistler, a division of Outdoor Adventures Whistler (OAW), had added hundreds of dogs prior to the 2010 Winter Olympics, anticipating a significant increase in tourists who wanted to experience sled dog racing. Its advertising claimed that for $169 tourists could experience “a once in a lifetime experience (with]) your team of energetic and loveable Alaskan Racing Huskies.” However, the tourism interest, combined with a lack of seasonal snow, collapsed after the Olympics.

According to the British Columbia review decision, issued January 25, the man, unidentified by name in the document but later revealed to be Robert Fawcett, general manager and founder of Howling Dog Tours Whistler, “was tasked to cull the employer’s herd by approximately 100 dogs.” OAW denies it issued any such orders. Fawcett claims he was under orders to significantly improve the financial performance, and that killing about one-third of the pack was the last resort.

Peter Fricker (left) of the Vancouver Humane Society, said that his experience “in every case where people use animals to make money and when there are financial difficulties the animals’ lives are put at risk.”

On April 21, 2010, Fawcett began the executions, using a shotgun, rifle, and knife to kill 55 dogs. Two days later, he killed 45. By the end of each day of killing, Fawcett was covered by the blood of his victims.

Almost all references to the killings — by official documents and on the OAW website — use the word “euthanized” to describe what happened to the dogs and not the more accurate, “murdered.”

Fawcett may believe he was ordered to get rid of the animals to improve cost effectiveness. He may also believe he had no other option but to kill them to meet financial demands of his employer. But, there is always an option, and nothing can excuse what he did or how he carried out the executions.

The “Superior Orders Doctrine,” informally known as the “I was only following orders” defense, is no defense at all. The first time it was recorded was probably in 1476 when Pietro diHagenbach, a knight in the Holy Roman Empire, claimed that atrocities and torture committed under his direction, but not personally conducted by him, was ordered by his superior, the Duke of Burgandy.

For allowing such heinous crimes, di Hagenbach was beheaded.

The Nuremberg Defense by Nazis following World War II that they couldn’t be held accountable for the Holocaust and its atrocities because they were only following orders was dismissed by the court. The Nuremberg Principle IV is clear:

“The fact that a person acted pursuant to order of his Government or of a superior does not relieve him from responsibility under international law, provided a moral choice was in fact possible to him.”

In U.S. v. Keenan (1969) a Marine private claimed he was not guilty of a war crime when he killed an unarmed elderly Vietnamese civilian because he was following the direct order of his superior. However, the Court of Military Appeals ruled “the justification for acts done pursuant to orders does not exist if the order was of such a nature that a man of ordinary sense and understanding would know it to be illegal.”

The rejection of the “following orders defense” to commit illegal and immoral acts in a non-military setting, when the terror of war isn’t imminent, is even more appalling and inexcusable when a person’s life isn’t in jeopardy.

Illustration: di Hagenbach on trial, from Berner Chronik des Diebold Schilling dem Älteren

Photograph of execution of Jews by the Nazis – presented as evidence during the Nuremberg Trials, 1945/6

Anton Dostler was accused of having ordered the shooting of fifteen American prisoners of war in violation of the Regulations attached to the Hague Convention Number IV of 1907, and of long-established laws and customs of war. A plea was made to the jurisdiction of the Commission by his Counsel, on the grounds, first, that the accused was entitled to the benefits of the Geneva Prisoners of War Convention of 1929 in the conduct of his trial, and, secondly, that the Commission had not been legally established. These arguments, and the plea of superior orders later put forward on Dostler’s behalf, were rejected, and he was condemned to death.

Brian Hutchinson: Aftermath as bad as sled dog slaughter
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February 4, 2011
The “execution-style” cull and disposal of 100 sled dogs in Whistler, B.C., was atrocious, without question. The animals were raised for business purposes only, and when tourism began to drop in Whistler, post-Olympic Winter Games, they were simply written off.

The dogs were shot and dumped in a mass grave in late April 2010. Details became public only this week, when a Vancouver radio station got wind of them. Things then really turned ugly. Allegations, counter-claims, back pedalling. A social media backlash. The aftermath looks as bad as the slaughter itself, perhaps even worse.

Robert Fawcett is the founder of Howling Dogs Tour Whistler Inc. and was its general manager when he killed the dogs, so one might think the buck would stop with him. No one had instructed him to shoot the animals; Mr. Fawcett acknowledged that himself, in a joint statement he released late Wednesday with Outdoor Adventures at Whistler Ltd., the company that hired Howling Dogs to run its tours last year.

“Considerable efforts were made to arrange for dogs to be adopted, both before and after mid-April, 2010,” the statement reads. “The efforts at adoption were not as successful as hoped.” OAW said it had assumed the kill was done “in a proper, humane and legal manner … Mr. Fawcett was known to have very humanely euthanized dogs on previous occasions.”

So why did he resort to picking up a firearm and shooting the animals, one by one, over a two-day period — in a manner that no one could call appropriate — until 100 of them were dead? These were not all clean kills. Some of the dogs were badly wounded and limped around before taking more bullets. The statement that Mr. Fawcett released with OAW on Wednesday doesn’t explore the shooting spree. Mr. Fawcett has not made himself available to media for comment.

But according to the Vancouver Sun, he did call the B.C. Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals at some point, to describe the condition of his animals. A B.C. SPCA animal protection officer admitted that she had spoken with him. “What happened last spring is [Mr. Fawcett] contacted me and complained about some of the conditions of the dogs and I was supposed to go up there and check,” senior animal protection officer Eileen Drever (left) told the Sun.

Ms. Drever did not travel to Whistler. This might seem like a missed opportunity for someone ostensibly in the business of protecting animals. “[Mr. Fawcett] didn’t advise me he was going to kill any dogs,” she explained to the Sun. “He was going to find homes.”

The Sun story angered Ms. Drever’s boss, B.C. SPCA executive director Craig Daniell (right). He fired off his own news release Wednesday. “It is deeply distressing to our organization that anyone would imply we had knowledge of, or could have prevented, the devastating killings carried

What a mess. The kicker, of course, is that two weeks after he slaughtered his 100 dogs, Mr. Fawcett filed a B.C. Workers’ Compensation Board (known as WorkSafeBC) application for compensation, citing post-traumatic stress disorder.

Compensation from whom? From Howling Dogs, of which he had operational control....

 

B.C. dog sled company disputes cull claims
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Outdoor Adventures Whistler is disputing some of the claims made by Bob Fawcett, who carried out the dog cull in April.

The Whistler, B.C., dog sled company connected with the mass slaughter of 100 huskies is disputing some of the statements of the man who carried out the cull.

Bob Fawcett is former general manager of Howling Dog Tours Whistler, the company behind the cull in April.

Whistler dog sled company Outdoor Adventures Whistler (OAW) had a financial stake in Howling Dog Tours at the time of the slaughter, and took control of the company in May.

Following the cull, Fawcett made statements to WorkSafeBC, the province's workers compensation board, in support of his claim for compensation after suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

According to the WorkSafeBC documents, Fawcett killed the dogs, many of them healthy, because he felt pressured to reduce the herd quickly following a slow winter season.

Company disputes Fawcett's claims

In a statement released Feb. 2, OAW outlines several areas of disagreement with Fawcett's remarks to WorkSafeBC.

OAW claims Fawcett told company owner Joey Houssian that 50 dogs would have to be euthanized, that the dogs were old, sick, and unadoptable, and that considerable efforts had been made to arrange for the dogs’ adoption.

The statement also said Houssian did not advise Fawcett on the manner in which the dogs were to be killed, and that Fawcett was known to have previously euthanized dogs in a humane manner.

Fawcett has not spoken publicly since news of the slaughter emerged.

OAW called the incident tragic and regrettable, and said a new policy has been put in place to ensure all dogs are euthanized at a veterinarian's office. The company also said it has implemented a neutering program for all male dogs to mitigate unwanted pregnancies in the pack.

On Jan. 31, the British Columbia SPCA announced it was investigating the cull and would recommend to Crown prosecutors that charges be laid.

The RCMP is also investigating.

On Feb. 2, B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell (right) ordered the creation of a task force to investigate the killing.

The task force will be led by Liberal MLA Terry Lake (left), who is a veterinarian, and will include representation from the B.C. SPCA and the Union of B.C. Municipalities.

Photo: OAW website

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Company tied to sled dog slaughter subject of 65 SPCA orders
BY KIM PEMBERTON, POSTMEDIA NEWS
FEBRUARY 3, 2011
The BC SPCA issued 65 orders against Howling Dog Tours in January 2006 regarding the health and welfare of its sled dogs.

But because the company made all the required changes, the SPCA was powerless to seize the animals and did not have the authority to shut down the business.

The business, which now falls under the parent company Outdoor Adventures Whistler, has been the focus of intense public criticism this week after news became public that 100 of its approximately 350 sled dogs were slaughtered following a downturn in business after the Olympics.

The cull came to light because of a successful WorkSafeBC claim for post-traumatic stress disorder by Robert Fawcett, the employee who killed the dogs over two days last April.

The orders the SPCA made in 2006 related to dogs being tethered for too long on chains and not getting enough exercise. Other orders were written after dogs were found to be emaciated, lacking dental care and when there were concerns about the dogs' housing and lack of socialization.

"We'd go and do an inspection and an order to fix something was always complied with so the dogs couldn't be taken into protection (of the SPCA)," said Marcie Moriarty, head of the SPCA's cruelty investigation division.

The SPCA was dealing with Fawcett at the time, who was the general manager and a director with Howling Dog Tours. He is now under investigation for animal cruelty. The concerns were discussed over the phone with Joey Houssian, a director of Outdoor Adventures.

The statement said: "There were no instructions given to Mr. Fawcett as to the manner of euthanizing dogs on this occasion, and Mr. Fawcett was known to have very humanely euthanized dogs on previous occasions."

Meanwhile, this week Tourism Whistler and Whistler Blackcomb announced they were suspending third-party bookings for all tours with Outdoor Adventures. At the same time, Outdoor Adventures announced it was voluntarily suspending its dogsled operations.

The dog-sled operator responsible for the massive cull in April 2010, has just been kicked off the board of Mush with P.R.I.D.E., an international organization for the humane care of sled dogs. Bob Fawcett, an award-winning sled dog racer, is shown in this photo during the 2010 Bootleg Sled Dog Races in Kimberley, B.C. in early February 2010. Photograph by: Submitted Photo, Bootleg Sled Dog Races

 

Exclusive: Suspected dog slaughterer sacked
By BOB MACKIN, QMI AGENCY
3 February 2011
An international organization representing sled dog mushers fired a Whistler man from his volunteer position Wednesday because he is suspected of slaughtering 100 healthy huskies.

The board of Kenai, Alaska-headquartered Mush With PRIDE (Providing Responsible Information on a Dog’ Environment) voted to oust vice-president Robert Fawcett. Fawcett was operations manager of Outdoor Adventures Whistler subsidiary Howling Dog Sled Tours.

“Euthanasia should not be used for population control and what happened in this case is simply unacceptable,” said a statement on the Mush with PRIDE website. “No responsible sled dog owner or caregiver treats dogs in this manner.”

President Karen Ramstead (left), a musher who owns the North Wapiti Siberian Husky Kennels in Athabasca, Alta., told QMI she is “shocked and horrified” at the massacre, which happened over two days last April. The incident attracted global media attention and outrage after a Vancouver radio station revealed Monday that a man suffering post-traumatic stress disorder received compensation because he conducted a mass dog cull after the 2010 Winter Olympics. Slow winter business was cited in the WorkSafeBC report.Ramstead said she notified Fawcett of the decision by email on Wednesday morning. She had yet to receive a reply and did not expect one. She said Fawcett never contacted Mush with PRIDE to seek new homes for the animals he is suspected of eventually shooting and knifing.

“We certainly aren't assigning no guilt to Mr. Fawcett,” she said. “Details are still to be sorted out in the situation, but we felt the attention brought to Mush with PRIDE through this story is not putting us in a light that we want for our organization.”

Ramstead said existing animal welfare laws should be sufficient to regulate kennels and rejects calls to ban dogsledding.

“There are many of us out there who are doing the sport in a humane and responsible manner,” said Ramstead, a veteran of Alaska’s Iditarod sled dog race. “To paint us all with a brush based on one situation is an overreaction.”

Former operator says dogs were 'too old' and 'sick'
The Canadian Press
VANCOUVER
Thursday Feb. 3, 2011
The man at the centre of a horrific slaughter of up to 100 sled dogs says half the dogs that were put down were old, sick or "not adoptable."

Robert Fawcett and the company that bought his business, Outdoor Adventures, issued a statement late Wednesday night in an effort to answer some of the questions hanging over the case which has grabbed headlines around the world, but the statement left many more questions unanswered.

The statement said Fawcett advised the owner of Outdoor Adventures, Joey Houssian, in mid-April 2010 that he estimated about 50 dogs from Howling Dog Tours would have to be euthanized.

"These dogs live to run and were not able to do so and would have had to be kept in cages with the result that they would have had very poor or virtually no quality of life," the statement said of the animals owned by the Whistler, B.C. company.

Fawcett was the general manager of Howling Dog Tours and contracted his dogs to Outdoor Adventures, which had a financial stake in the company. Outdoor Adventures has said it took over full control of Howling Dog Tours last May, the month after the dogs were killed.

Both the RCMP and SPCA began investigating after WorkSafe BC documents came to light earlier this week describing the deaths of up to 100 dogs in vivid, gruesome detail. The worker at the centre of the WorkSafe claim was awarded compensation related to post-traumatic stress from the incident.

The WorkSafe documents allege the animals were shot and dumped in a mass grave after business collapsed following the 2010 Winter Olympics.

The joint statement from Fawcett and the company doesn't refer to 100 dogs, only the 50 it said needed to be put down. The WorkSafe documents suggest Howling Dogs had 300 in total and the general manager felt pressured to get rid of a third of them. The statement simply lists points that Fawcett and the company agree on. It said "considerable efforts" were made for the dogs to be adopted both before and after mid-April 2010, but "the efforts at adoption were not as successful as hoped." It said no instructions were provided to the man on how to kill them, but that Fawcett was known to have "very humanely" put down dogs on previous occasions.

The WorkSafe documents indicate the dogs were shot and others had their throats slit.

On Wednesday, Fawcett was removed from the board of directors of a group that sets voluntary guidelines for the industry.

"We're not assigning any guilt on him and we certainly don't have any more information than anyone else," Mush with Pride president Karen Ramstead said from Perryvale, Alta., where she runs a kennel for Siberian huskies. "We just felt that our bylaws allowed for this if a board member was bringing unwanted attention to Mush with Pride, which is what we felt this situation was doing. It was not portraying Mush with Pride in the light that we felt was going to further our cause."

Ramstead, who said she doesn't know Fawcett personally, said she sent him an email informing him of the decision. He replied that he understood the group's position, she said.

In December and January, someone with the same name posted messages to at least two Internet forums for people suffering from post-traumatic stress. The posts described the slaughter and the mental anguish that followed. The profile for Bob Fawcett on ptsdforum.org lists the user as a 38-year-old man from British Columbia.

In a forum on the same website a man identified as Bob Fawcett posted a lengthy entry on Jan. 6, 2011, identifying himself as the owner of a "large dogsled company for the last 15 years" and describing the slaughter of dozens of animals over two days in April of last year. The posting said the poor economy forced him to sell his company to a "corporation" about two years ago, and he suggested the new ownership pressured him to keep costs low. The posts said the unnamed corporation refused to sell any of the 330 dogs under his control, until money became tight.
"I was told the company was going to fold unless we took drastic action," said the posting. "The drastic action would be the immediate disposal of half the herd. There is no more money and the owners would only continue on if we did the reduction and went with a new business model, less dogs, less costs. These were my family. I reluctantly agreed to the job as I have always euthanised the older or injured dogs myself."

The allegations have outraged some, and RCMP are now investigating threats sent by email and posted to social media websites.

On the website, the user also writes at length about the emotional toll the slaughter has had on him. "I have been diagnosed with complex PTSD," says the forum posting. "I'm pretty dead emotionally. I can't sleep, I have regular flashbacks, I sometimes drop when I hear a dog bark, and gun shots freeze me solid."

The description is strikingly similar to an account contained in a decision by WorkSafe BC to award an unidentified dog sled operator for post-traumatic stress.

The WorkSafe BC documents says the worker spent two days shooting the animals and dumping them in a mass grave.
Corey Steinberg, a lawyer for the worker who filed the compensation claim, has said his client was told to make the business more cost effective. Steinberg declined further comment on Wednesday.

Premier Gordon Campbell announced a task force that will examine what happened and make recommendations to prevent similar cases in the future. The probe will be led by a Liberal politician who is also a veterinarian and will include the SPCA and the Union of B.C. Municipalities.

 

Police investigating 'serious' threats in wake of sled dog cull
BY SAM COOPER
POSTMEDIA NEWS
FEBRUARY 2, 2011
Whistler RCMP are investigating "very serious" threats connected to widespread outrage regarding the "execution-style" cull of 100 sled dogs following a post-Olympic tourism lull.

Outrage from across North America has been focused on the B.C. resort community after a Howling Dog Tours general manager made a successful claim with the Workers' Compensation Board, saying he suffered post-traumatic stress after slaughtering the dogs during a two-day massacre in April.

The claim, which came to light Monday, has led to a criminal animal-cruelty investigation by the B.C. SPCA and the RCMP.

RCMP Staff Sgt. Steve Le-Clair (left) confirmed Tuesday that the detachment has now opened a criminal investigation based on one e-mail threat. LeClair would not indicate which "person or entity" the threats were made against, or if they are believed to be valid.

Officers have been monitoring "vigilante justice" retribution threats made online.

A quick search online shows groups have formed to vent outrage against sled dog tour's parent company, Outdoor Adventures, and the man who carried out the killing, which he claims caused suffering from gruesome and haunting scenes enacted around his mass grave for the dogs.

Threats have been pulled from websites when administrators are informed of them, LeClair said.

Tristan Tanguay, an organizer of one of the groups, says thousands have joined the Facebook page "Support justice for the 100 slaughtered sled dogs of Whistler." The group includes everyone from "dog sled operators in the area, to people who have worked for the company in question, and clients who have posted pictures of tours they took with said company," Tanguay said in an e-mail. "This is a black eye for our community, province and country."

The SPCA and RCMP have located the mass grave where the dogs were buried, but won't be immediately digging for evidence because the grounds are buried under several metres of snow, said SPCA manager Marcie Moriarty.

Moriarty said she's been fielding media calls from media across North America on the massacre, including the New York Times and CNN.

Photo by: Rona Proudfoot

2 February 2011
"support justice for the 100 slaughtered sled dogs of whistler"

We need to tip our collective hats to businesses and members of the Whistler community that are coming together to take action out of respect for this tragedy.

Those of us who have spent time in the Whistler know it to be a very healthy community full of dog-loving residents. Let us hope the terrible actions of a few do not cast ill shadows on the rest of the community members.

Kim Amaral They can run free...no chains, no leash, no collar....just open wilderness.

Tammy Brown poor babies i feel we should go get the fu$&en asses that did that and do the same tortrue to them and more worse i have some ideas for them you cant even call them ppl

Bruce Farrell I can bearly look at these pic's when I do I give my Cody a big hug & kiss. Not sure I could control myself if I ever got ahold of that MFer

Gloria Hawryluk Hope the people get their just reward....Karma's a bitch when one does such evil! Wish I could be the fly on the wall!

Dog Killer Company Owned by Joey Houssian
2 February 2011
Postmedia reports the owner of Outdoor Adventures at Whistler Ltd. is Joey Houssian

Joey Houssian is the 29-year-old son of Intrawest founder Joe Houssian (right) who is also the Chairman of Intracorp. The Globe has this profile of Joe (senior) which says he 'grew up in Saskatchewan and knew nothing about the resort business before he invested in it.

Photo Credit left HANDOUT PHOTO - Claudia Kwan / Special to Vancouver Sun, National Post

 

Joint Statement from Robert Fawcett and Outdoor Adventures at Whistler Ltd.
WHISTLER, BC
Feb. 2, 2011
Outdoor Adventures at Whistler Ltd. and former General Manager, Howling Dog Tours Whistler Inc. agree to the following:

• The number of dogs euthanized by Mr. Fawcett. Mr. Fawcett advised Mr. [Joey] Houssian in mid-April 2010 that he was estimating 50 dogs would be euthanized.

• The condition of the dogs euthanized by Mr. Fawcett. In mid April, 2010 Mr. Fawcett advised Mr. Houssian that the dogs to be euthanized were "too old" or "sick" and "not adoptable". These dogs live to "run" and were not able to do so and would have had to be kept in cages with the result that they would have had very poor or virtually no quality of life.

• The efforts made to arrange for dogs to be adopted. Considerable efforts were made to arrange for dogs to be adopted, both before and after mid April, 2010. The efforts at adoption were not as successful as hoped.

• The instructions given to Mr. Fawcett concerning the manner of euthanizing the dogs. There were no instructions given to Mr. Fawcett as to the manner of euthanizing dogs on this occasion, and Mr. Fawcett was known to have very humanely euthanized dogs on previous occasions.

 

Hi,
Dont know what to say other than I suffer from complex PTSD and I am not doing so well. Am on another forum and thought I would give this one a shot. So here I am.

bob fawcett, Dec 27, 2010

bob fawcett Member Male, 38, from bc Profile Page Member Since: Trophy Points: Dec 27, 2010 8 Message Count: Likes Received: 36 3 bob fawcett was last seen: Yesterday at 12:08 PM

 

Massacre horrifies British Columbia
Man shoots 100 sled dogs ‘execution-style’ after Olympic slowdown
BY SAM COOPER AND SEAN SULLIVAN
WHISTLER, ALBERTA
FEBRUARY 1, 2011
A man who shot 100 sled dogs complained to WorkSafeBC B.C. that he suffered post traumatic stress after the slaughter and was granted compensation. The news has horrified dog lovers and led to a joint criminal investigation by the RCMP and B.C. SPCA.

“Shocking doesn’t begin to describe what happened to these poor dogs,” said an emotional Marcie Moriarty, B.C. SPCA’s manager of animal-cruelty investigations on Monday. “I don’t want to use the term euthanize because the man describes it as execution-style killings.”

A WorkSafe B.C. report dealing with the compensation, details the gruesome scenes on April 21 and 23, 2010, when the worker euthanized 100 dogs over two days.

The size of the cull meant he had to kill the dogs in full view of the rest of the pack, leading to a bloody frenzy of wounded, frightened and angry dogs.

The dogs were buried in a mass grave.

One dog, Nora, was found crawling around in the mass grave 20 minutes after he had dumped her body into the pit. Others were chased, shot cleanly or died after their throats were slit. The employee, according to the report, was “covered in blood” when finished.

According to the report, on April 21, the man wounded one dog — Suzy, the mother of his family’s pet dog — who managed to run away despite having the left side of its cheek blown off and an eye hanging from its socket. A rifle with a scope was used to kill her from a distance; that bullet passed through her and seriously wounded Poker, a dog that wasn’t slated to be euthanized. It was later killed.

On April 23, one dog, who had part of its head blown off, attacked him after he ran out of ammunition. He killed the dog with a knife, slitting its throat while it was on top of him.

The report said the man, who had named and raised many of the dogs, has “continued to deteriorate mentally and emotionally” since the incident. While not named in the WorkSafe B.C. documents, the man has been identified as Robert T. Fawcett, listed in corporate papers as a director of Howling Dog Tours Whistler Ltd.

In a Dec. 27, 2010, posting on a website forum for trauma sufferers, a Whistler resident named Bob Fawcett, an award-winning dogsledder, wrote: “I’ve had a pretty horrible ordeal and actually figure I may be able to be a good sounding board for others ... and it has pretty much destroyed my soul.”

Outdoor Adventures at Whistler said in a release that it has had a “financial interest” in Howling Dogs Tour Whistler Inc., which has “operational control of the dogsledding operations,” for four years.

In the statement issued Monday, Outdoor Adventures said: “OAW was aware of the relocation and euthanization of dogs at Howling Dogs in April 2010, but it was our expectation that it was done in a proper, legal and humane manner.”

Outdoor Adventures is owned by Joey Houssian, son of Intrawest founder Joe Houssian.

Records obtained by The Province indicate Houssian has been an owner of Howling Dogs Tour Whistler since Dec. 27, 2006. He is presently the sole owner of the company.

Houssian did not respond to phone calls Monday.

According to its brochures, Outdoor Adventures offers a three-hour dogsled tour in the Soo Valley for $169 per person.

Moriarty said a criminal investigation would focus on the man who killed the dogs, but the corporate management would be investigated as well. There are provisions in the SPCA act that allow for Criminal Code charges and Moriarty says this case warrants them.

“Dogs crawling around in a mass grave; half of one’s face blown off — if those actions don’t constitute Criminal Code offences, I don’t know what does.”

Moriarty acknowledged it has historically been difficult to persuade Crown prosecutors to accept criminal charges for animal cruelty.

Moriarty said the man has claimed it was not his decision to kill the dogs, but that’s no excuse and he’s culpable.

Other dogsled tour operators in Whistler distanced themselves from the reported actions.

In the Callaghan Valley, Craig Beattie, general manager of Canadian Snowmobile & All Terrain Adventures, was asked if that operation has ever performed mass euthanizations, such as the case alleged with Outdoor Adventures. “Absolutely not,” he said.

“I’ve not heard of anything like this in my life. It’s shocking.”

Shawn Wilson, president of dogsled tour company Blackcomb Adventures, said Outdoor Adventures wanted to be “the biggest company in town.” His own company uses another dogsled contractor, one of three in the Whistler area. “It was all business, just trying to pump out the numbers,” Wilson said. “They wanted to have 12 teams running at once. When you have 300 dogs, it’s different. The owners aren’t with them every day.”

Whistler lawyer Corey Steinberg — who is representing the man who filed the WCB claim — abruptly cancelled a press conference he had scheduled Monday afternoon.

Terry Cumming of Melfort, Sask., advocates against sled-dog operators through his website, Sled Dog Watchdog. He wasn’t surprised to hear of the allegations. “It’s pretty common for [sled-dog operators] to kill dogs and not tell anyone,” Cumming said. “If the dogs are not capable of earning their keep, they’re of no value to either the dog-tour operators or the dog mushers.”

Photograph by: Whistler Dogsledding, Special to The Province

 

Alberta man worries dogs he sold to B.C. firm were among those slaughtered
BY BRENT WITTMEIER
EDMONTON
FEBRUARY 2, 2011
Six years ago, Marc Dumont (left) watched as his nine best Alaskan huskies were carted away from his Bonnyville, Alta., house to their new home near Whistler, B.C. After that day in August 2004, Dumont told friends he had left his dogs with the perfect person, Bob Fawcett. But when he came home Monday night, he learned some startling news. Fawcett and his company, have been linked to the alleged killings of 100 sled dogs last April.

"I couldn't believe that it was Bob," said Dumont. "It certainly wasn't in his nature."

The cull came to light on Monday through workers' compensation documents. A general manager with Howling Dog Tours made a successful claim with the workers' compensation board in British Columbia, saying he suffered post-traumatic stress after slaughtering the dogs over two days last April.

The document has led to a criminal animal-cruelty investigation by the British Columbia SPCA and the RCMP.
On Tuesday, the RCMP confirmed they were also investigating threats made against an employee at the company since the allegations came to light.

While not named in the documents, the man has been identified as Robert T. Fawcett, listed in corporate papers as a director of Howling Dog Tours Whistler Ltd.

Dumont is distraught, knowing the dogs he gave up would be among the oldest of the 300 the company owned.

"The first question that came to mind was, 'Oh my God, which ones are left?' " said Dumont. "The hard thing is not knowing what exactly the situation is."

For the better part of a decade, sled dogs were Dumont's hobby. In the mid-'90s, he had a single Siberian husky. Eventually, he was making rice and kibble for 20 dogs. In the winter, he'd take them sledding, and in the summers, the dogs would pull a quad. But with the massive time commitment and a discouraging lack of snow, Dumont eventually decided to give up his passion.

It took considerable effort to find "the right home" for his animals. Sled dogs are often more aggressive than most domestic animals, so not all could be placed as pets. He even backed out of an agreement to sell his dogs when he visited the buyer's farm and thought the facilities weren't adequate. But Fawcett was different. The two began exchanging emails in 2004 after Dumont posted on an online forum that he was looking to sell his dogs.

Fawcett had recently left a sled dog tour company in Canmore, Alta., with plans to strike out on his own. As he gathered animals for his West Coast touring company, he spoke passionately about making practices more humane. He wanted to get rid of tethers and place the dogs in pens, not easy since sled dogs tend to fight and gang up on each other. Fawcett also wanted to neuter the animals to prevent accidental litters, an uncommon practice since neutered dogs are more lethargic.

"I thought that some of the things that they were aspiring to have were not realistic," said Dumont.

During Dumont's three visits to Fawcett's Pemberton, B.C., facility, his dogs appeared fat and happy. Some of the females were now part of Fawcett's breeding stock, and one, now too old to pull, was living in an open pen for the "retired" dogs. The dogs weren't driven too hard and received ample petting from tourists. And Fawcett and the "spectacular" staff knew all 300 animals by name.

But the business also had troubles, including a lack of snow, which meant fewer tours and less money. By the time of Dumont's third visit in December 2008, Fawcett had sold the business and became the general manager.

Photograph by: Shaughn Butts, Edmonton Journal

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Time to review legal status of animals
Whistler dogsledding company brings to light the need to better protect all creatures from brutal slaughter
BY MANEESHA DECKHA
SPECIAL TO THE SUN
FEBRUARY 4, 2011
The thought of NORA crawling over the bodies of her peers and fighting to stay alive with half her face blown off is unbearable.

She was just one of close to 100 sled dogs killed in Whistler by a dogsledding company facing a drop in demand for its tours after the 2010 Olympics. This apparently economically motivated decision has sparked widespread public outrage. That a company could order an employee to kill 100 healthy animals for business reasons has struck many as shocking -and rightfully so.

Unfortunately, the law doesn't share this sensibility. The legal status of animals is a bleak one, offering dogs such as Nora and her peers almost no protection. It needs to be changed.

Animals are considered property under Canadian law, which means that their owners, whether human or corporate, can largely buy, sell and dispose of them as they would an outdated computer or broken lawn mower. Outdoor Adventures, the legal owner of the sled dogs killed at Whistler, was very likely within its rights to direct the dogs' disposal, much as it would any other business asset. Furthermore, dogsledding is an unregulated industry in Canada. No standards exist to protect sled dogs from being killed once the've become economically useless to their owners when business slumps.

The Criminal Code is not much help to animals in this situation, either. Although the Code's anti-cruelty provisions mandate that owners provide certain basic necessities of life to their animals, it doesn't prohibit owners from killing their animals when they want to, except for a few narrow exceptions.

The general catch-all provision in anti-cruelty law that protects against unnecessary suffering may be of more assistance.

As a basic first step to improve protection for animals, there needs to be tighter regulation as to how sledding and other businesses which use animals for profit can treat them once the animals lose their economic value. But even this type of moderate change in the law will not likely come without a wholesale shift in how the law views animals.

It is difficult to value animals in and of themselves while they continue to be classified as property.

MANEESHA DECKHA is associate professor of law at the University of Victoria and an animal law scholar.
In 2006 her seminar on Animals, Culture and the Law won the U.S. Humane Society's Animals and Society award for best new course.

"The human race had yet to render itself extinct; perhaps the animals were just a dry run. Once you believed animals were insensate things, disposable, of utilitarian value only, it wasn't hard to move on to people."
~ NICHOLAS CHRISTOPHER

Sled-dog killings in Whistler warrant harsh punishment by Sameer Vasta 01/02/2011 A company in B.C. has been accused of killing dozens of healthy sled-dogs because of a lack of tourist demand. If found guilty, they should be punished, and punished severely. The merciless killing of at least 70 huskies by a dog-sled tour operator in British Columbia has created a loud uproar, and rightfully so. The culling of healthy animals for economic reasons is disturbing, inhumane, and completely unacceptable. Tourism Whistler has suspended reservations for dog-sled tours by Outdoor Adventures Whistler, a company that is being accused of killing dozens of sled dogs after demand for dog-sled tours dropped after last year's Winter Olympics. An employee of Outdoor Adventures reported that he was ordered to execute about 100 dogs with a gun so that the oversized-herd could be culled in response to lower demand. Suspended reservations is not enough — if found guilty, Outdoor Adventures Whistler should have their permits taken away, and the remaining dogs that they own should be taken to a safe environment. Moreover, the owners of the company should be charged with animal cruelty, and face legal consequences based on their horrific actions. The Canadian Criminal Code makes it clear that anyone "who wilfully and without lawful excuse, kills or injures dogs, birds or animals [...] is guilty of an offence." The owners of Outdoor Adventures Whistler, if proven to have ordered the "execution-style" killing of healthy animals without any excuse but their finances, would be guilty of a disgusting crime. While there is an option to treat animal cruelty instances as indictable offences, in most cases animal cruelty is still only considered a summary conviction offence, and is generally accompanied by small fines (up to $10,000) and not lengthy jail sentences. This current case in B.C., where dozens of dogs were slaughtered to prevent economic loss, makes it clear that a summary conviction is not enough — in my opinion, Outdoor Adventures Whistler should be convicted of a indictable offense, punishable by larger fines and lengthy jail times. All the uproar and disgust is warranted and necessary. These contemptible actions need to be met with public disgust and legal action. However, this heinous act should also serve as the impetus for two important policy changes that can avoid future such situations. The first is around the purchase and ownership of animals. Where were the checks and balances that needed to take place when Outdoor Adventures Whistler were trying to buy the dogs? Did nobody realize that purchasing and raising 300 dogs for a one-time tourist event would lead to problems once the tourists left and demand died down? The tour company, of course, needs to be held accountable for their callous treatment of dogs as commodities to be easily purchased and then easily disposed of, but hopefully, new policies will allow for the better monitoring of animal purchases and breeding for tourism and sport. The second, of course, is around the ambiguity of the law around animal cruelty. Instead of simply summary conviction offences, heinous crimes involving the large-scale execution of healthy animals for economic gain should be automatically tried and punished as indictable offences — there should be no ambiguity on whether or not it can be be a summary conviction or not. By raising the legal stakes, and the potential for long-term consequences, we can more effectively deter anything like this from happening again. Let's make sure that Outdoor Adventures Whistler knows that their actions were despicable and abhorrent. Let's make sure the 150 or so dogs that still remain there are removed and sent to places where they can have better care and not be under the threat of execution. But most importantly, let's make sure we're changing rules and policy to avoid this from happening ever again. SAMEER VASTA is a storyteller and communications strategist that has helped organizations like the Government of Ontario, The World Bank, and the AKDN create compelling narrative around their work.