"... there were times where he had to use multiple shots ... blew off the side of a head of one dog and the dog was running off with her eye hanging out and he had to try and use a scope to kill her."
The abuse of sled dogs by tour operators in Canada happens all too often and the recent news of the cull in the B.C. of 100 sled dogs by an employee of Outdoor Adventures Whistler is just another example of this. I wasn't going to post anything on this act of barbarism ... and then I heard the interview on CBC's "As It Happens".
The guy who did all the killing successfully applied for disability claiming post traumatic stress disorder as a result of slaughtering all the dogs. So is this now going to be a new revenue stream for all the animal abusers out there?
100 dogs who were worked, malnourished, chained, and then blown to bits by shotgun or the guy pumping the shotgun. Who are the real victims here?
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A request
The reason for this blog is to help get specific dogs adopted from TAS but equally important is to try to normalize the idea of shelter dogs being just as good and just as desirable as any other dogs including those which are regularly merchandised by backyard breeders, puppy millers and those few remaining pet store owners who still feel a need to sell live animals. The single greatest stigma shelter animals still face is the belief that shelter animals are substandard animals. Anyone who has had enough experience with shelter animals knows this is untrue but the general public hasn't had the same experiences you've had. They see a nice dog photo in a glossy magazine and too many of them would never think of associating that dog with a dog from a shelter. After all, no one abandons perfectly good dogs, right? Unfortunately, as we all know, perfectly good dogs are abandoned all the time.
The public still too often associates shelter dogs with images of beat up, sick, dirty, severely traumatized animals and while we definitely sometimes see victims such as these, they are certainly not the majority and, regardless, even the most abused animals can very often be saved and made whole again.
Pound Dogs sometimes discusses the sad histories some of the dogs have suffered. For the most part, though, it tries to present the dogs not as victims but as great potential family members. The goal is to raise the profiles of animals in adoption centers so that a potential pet owner sees them as the best choice, not just as the charity choice.
So, here's the favour I'm asking. Whenever you see a dog picture on these pages you think is decent enough, I'd like you to consider sharing it on Facebook or any other social media sites you're using (I know many of you do this already and thank you for that). And when you share it, please mention that the dog in the photo is a shelter dog like so many other shelter dogs waiting for a home. If we can get even five percent of the pet buying public to see shelter dogs differently, to see how beautiful they are and how wonderful they are, and to consider shelter dogs as their first choice for a new family member, we can end the suffering of homeless pets in this country.
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The public still too often associates shelter dogs with images of beat up, sick, dirty, severely traumatized animals and while we definitely sometimes see victims such as these, they are certainly not the majority and, regardless, even the most abused animals can very often be saved and made whole again.
Pound Dogs sometimes discusses the sad histories some of the dogs have suffered. For the most part, though, it tries to present the dogs not as victims but as great potential family members. The goal is to raise the profiles of animals in adoption centers so that a potential pet owner sees them as the best choice, not just as the charity choice.
So, here's the favour I'm asking. Whenever you see a dog picture on these pages you think is decent enough, I'd like you to consider sharing it on Facebook or any other social media sites you're using (I know many of you do this already and thank you for that). And when you share it, please mention that the dog in the photo is a shelter dog like so many other shelter dogs waiting for a home. If we can get even five percent of the pet buying public to see shelter dogs differently, to see how beautiful they are and how wonderful they are, and to consider shelter dogs as their first choice for a new family member, we can end the suffering of homeless pets in this country.
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OH, good grief, I hadn't even thought of that.. yeeesh. I thought I was cynical, Fred, you amaze me!
Yes, is it all about that fifteen seconds of fame...
Could it be about the critters for a change??
TheHorseInTheGarage, when it comes to the abuse of dogs of this scale, cynical does not begin to describe how I feel.
This guy had the balls to claim PTS .... what about the PTS of the poor dogs who had no defence when someone came after them with a gun after they had worked for this company faithfully. This guy couldn't phone the relevant humane society and tell them he had been ordered to kill these dogs and let them step in. Or call the police and report the company. He didn't seem to have a problem doing it. When are we going to stop this kind of outrageous cruelty. I cannot think of many circumstances that would compel or force me to kill a dog - no other reason than to relieve a dog of its suffering if there was no other option available. Certainly not to keep my job. And to shoot them? And miss? I hope this company goes bankrupt and are prevented from opening another business under another name and I seriously hope they are banned from ever owning another dog. How could anyone who heard about this sit their stupid ass in a sled to be pulled by a dog and think that is great fun. I hope everything in life that is horrible happens to them ....they are despicable, stupid, non-caring, non-thinking morons. What the hell is wrong with people.....they are no more than savages....
I was just thinking...Michael Vick did not kill nearly this many dogs...and he is a scrouge on society to most people.....what the heck is this business owner and employee? This guy is stupid enough to file a WCB claim and the company owner is stupid enough to increase the number of dogs slaughtered.....good grief, what morons. The whole business should be banned but then that begs the question of what happens to the dogs. What a sin and a shame...Sorry Fred, I am just so pissed about this.......
I need to develop a stronger backbone because every time I start to think about this, my mind starts to shut down and all I can hear is white noise. I just fucking despair.
What was Worksafe BC thinking? They initially turned down his claim (which his "employer" knew about last year and made subsequent "policy changes" that included no firearms on site) then approved a resubmitted claim based on sudden traumatic events that were not part of the usual traumatic events of culling unprofitable animals. I'll leave the graphic details to the Worksafe BC report:
http://beta.images.theglobeandmail.com/archive/01159/WorkSafe_BC_Review_1159405a.pdf
Now he'll claim for P-PTSD?
Redstarcafe, thanks for the link. I'm going to repost it here because I'm not sure how long the G+M link will be up.
From the ctv website:
"According to the claim, the dogs panicked as they watched their compatriots being killed, and attacked the worker as he finished his job.
At one point during the slaughter, he ran out of ammunition and had to kill an aggressive dog with a knife."
Well, it makes me feel a 'tiny' bit better that at least some of the dogs tried to stop this piece of human garbage...too bad they didn't succeed. If he would have been ripped limb from limb it's all he would have deserved.
Also:
"The worker told WorkSafe BC he had worked for the company for years, lived on a farm with the dogs, "and had developed a strong emotional bond of mutual love and trust with them."
Are you freaking kidding me? How do you develop a "strong emotional bond of mutual love & trust" and then do what you did? And if you did, that makes it all the more sickening...these dogs trusted you and then you sell them out, why???...because your employer told you to?...because you were too stupid or lazy to find other options? Then you have the nerve to ask to be compensated for what you did? I hope you have nightmares every night for the rest of your life.
On first blush...he had done it before and considered it part of his "job'..."he had raised and named the dogs" and apparently had no problem blowing half of their head off and/or slitting their throat...but oh boy, he was afraid when one of the dogs attacked him. My god, what kind of monster is this man? Attempts were made to adopt out the animals...what attempts...where are the records...who did they contact? Even though the dogs were frantic and panicking from the killings, that didn't stop him. He accidentally shot a dog that was not to be euthanized, he wrestled the dogs to the ground and stood on them and had to fire several shots.....what the hell is this about? This is just moraless monstrosity at its worst...and then having the gall, temerity and lack of remorse to try and make money once again off the backs of these dogs....I don't hate often, but I hate this bastard.......
Had this so-called person never said "No" in his life??? He couldn't say "No" to savagely killing dogs he had supposedly raised and cared for?
I ask that he prove exactly what efforts were made to find homes for these dogs. I guess a bullet and a knife are cheaper and quicker than e-mailing shelters, rescuers, mushers' associations to try to find good homes for these dogs.
The great god Mammon strikes again.
And animals die.
I think Social Mange has a clue to what makes this guy tick. Someone who couldn't say no. A spineless guy who felt he had no option but to kill 100 dogs. A little like guys who kill their wife and kids after they lose their job. People that don't see options in life. It, sadly, isn't that uncommon.
Maybe he thought the cull would be straightforward like the ones he'd done before. Then things got way out of hand, more than he could ever have imagined. Dogs that he knew, like Suzie, his pet dog's mother, had half her head blown off and he suddenly had to deal with it and he'd had no idea something that bad could happen. Then, when he shot her with the scope, he accidentally wounded Pokey, one of his favourites, who wasn't supposed to be killed. Then it got to the point that he was holding dogs down to shoot them execution-style. Then all of a sudden ...
A guy without integrity. Failure to plan. Failure to see options.
Now it comes back to hit him with PTSD. He didn't want to kill the dogs, but he didn't have the spine to tell his employer to go to H*ll. (Although, sadly, said employer now has to deal with the WorkSafe report, and his hound don't hunt). Now this guy has nightmares and panic attacks. So does the guy have a soul after all, damaged though it is?
Not condoning him; BC SPCA please prosecute to the full extent of our miserable Canadian law. If this guy is truly in a psychological abyss over what he is done, good on him for having some remorse.
And it's not "euthanasia".
It's killing.
Over 3 Million animals are killed every hour in North America in "Slaughter Houses" after being raised in "Factory Farms" who's conditions require workers to wear masks in order to breathe. Unless we direct our rage toward this killing and not just companion animals then how can we just condemn this workers actions and ignore similar atrocities happening every second of every day. How do we justify rushing to save a dog while stopping to eat a cow along the way?
Hi Anonymous, while the condition of animals in factory farms is deplorable that does not justify a lack of concern for companion animals. If anything, I would say that respect for companion animals is the first step towards respect for other animals.
Fred, I agree with what you are saying but a little more outrage for factory farms at the same time(all the time)I think would be just as big a step.
What a heartbreaking story.
It`s one thing to shoot an aged or very ill dog(that`s quite common with farmers even to this day) but this is something else.
I hope this is isolated and not what is normally done with working Sled dogs that are no longer of any use to these companies.