Provincial Task Force To Review Dog Killings

Wednesday, February 02, 2011 03:35 PM

Prince George, B.C. - Premier Gordon Campbell has announced a task force to review the circumstances surrounding the alleged mass killing of sled dogs by an employee of a Whistler-based company.

Kamloops-North Thompson MLA, veterinarian Dr. Terry Lake, will head the task force and will be joined by representatives from the BC SPCA and Union of BC Municipalities. The force will have 45-days to review the circumstances leading up to the killings, as well as the chain of events afterwards and will make recommendations to prevent such an incident from occurring again.

"As a veterinarian, I was shocked and saddened by the description of the terrible treatment these dogs were reported to have been subjected to," says Dr. Lake. "We will undertake a thorough, detailed examination of the circumstances surrounding this case to ensure we take all steps necessary to ensure dogs in the dog-sledding industry are treated humanely."

Since news of the cull of as many as 100 dogs broke on Monday, questions have been raised around when the employee first contacted authorities about the killings, why WorkSafe BC did not provide information to the appropriate authorities, and broader issues around the regulation and oversight of the dog-sled industry.

B.C. Agriculture Minister, Ben Stewart, says, "While we continue to support the independent SPCA investigation and look forward to its conclusios, we also need to ensure government is taking steps to prevent this kind of incident from re-occurring."

The task force's final report and recommendations will go to the Agriculture Minister for review and then be released to the public.

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Posted on Wednesday, February 02, 2011 03:35 PM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: PrinceGeorge on February 2 2011 4:18 PM

This should not be called an "alleged" cull because the dogs did not commit mass suicide.

Somebody killed them! It is even known who did it.

No need to be overly careful when giving it the proper name!

Posted by: PGDriver on February 2 2011 5:06 PM

People end up having to put animals down that are old, sick or ..... themselves due to the high cost of having it done by a vet. As long as it is quick and painless to the animal I can't see a problem.

Posted by: sportsman on February 2 2011 6:11 PM

It's really too bad that crimes against humans don't get the same attention and media coverage. Someone gets killed in Vancouver or Prince George and it hits the news for one evening and at noon the next day, then life goes on..... Just saying!
I know this was wrong, but come on already

Posted by: knowitall on February 2 2011 6:37 PM

You know you're from Prince George when you drive in the left lane,yield in the merge lane and support the cull of sled dogs.............pathetic

Posted by: opinionated on February 2 2011 7:02 PM

Say what you want about Campbell and the Liberal government but it is this governement that has steped up to the plate for animals and people of British Columbia. It was our own MLA Pat Bell who got the PCA Act strengthened. It was also Pat Bell who pushed to get the Wildlife Act updated after 25 years! What happened in Whistler is discusting. Good for Campbell to be as outraged as the rest of us are.

Posted by: Soli on February 2 2011 7:39 PM

You are right on knowitall...it is pathetic.In no way is it right to have 100 dogs die,no matter how it was done.

Posted by: littleguy on February 2 2011 9:12 PM

Far more options than shooting the dogs with shotguns.. i am sure that if they advertised "2010 Vancouver Olympic Sled dogs for adoption" they would have been scooped up... As for Vet Euthanization.. Now that the truth about how the dogs were destroyed has been made public, once you total all the cost which will hopefully be put on the company owners (fines, court costs, loss of future business income and whatever else).. vet fees of $40-$70 per dog will seem like nothing..

Posted by: supertech on February 2 2011 9:47 PM

If I had 100 sled dogs and I wanted them dead, they would be dead. That is not up to the SPCA or anyone else. Yhe guy who did the killing was the idiot--no one else needs a finger pointed at them. I don't hear anyone crying about the killing of a million chickens,pigs,cattle,fish every day. Where is the SPCA when fish are cruelly pulled out of the water by the lips and left in the bottom of the boat to die of suffocation??
Why is a sled dog more important than the women on the highway of tears? Spend our money on something worthwhile wouldya Gord? Cheez--practically kicked out of town and still being a dork on the way out.

Posted by: joeboy on February 3 2011 1:44 AM

While we are appointing task forces, gordo, why not get the ball rolling on an inquiry in the sale (lease) of BCRail. This task force is a convenient diversion.
Wonder what gordo will be up to while everyone is watching said task force.
Supertech you are 100 percent correct and
I cannot, for the life of me, figger out how in hades driving in the left lane has anything to do with this story. Some people seriously should get a life.

Posted by: edjoch on February 3 2011 7:03 AM

Worst executive decision of 2011, ask the guy who always stayed late to pet the dogs, to quickly and humanely kill em!

Posted by: BCRacer on February 3 2011 7:23 AM

In my opinion it is typical of the SPCA.... they are pointing fingers at the whole sled dog industry instead of dealing with the incident at hand. They appear to be saying everyone in the industy are heartless and animal abusers.

And yes this was a horrifiic incident.
Wonder why it took this man so long to come forward....at least he seems to have his alibi in place...mental!...

Posted by: opinionated on February 3 2011 8:33 AM

BC RAcer you are the heartless one always knocking everything the SPCA does.

Posted by: Eagleone on February 3 2011 8:49 AM

All involved need to be puniched to the full extent of the law. Anyone that would kill a 100 dogs in this fashion is a criminal that is one step away from doing this sort of thing to humans.

Dogs are mans most loyal best friends and should be treated with dignity a magnitude larger than simple farm animals.

Posted by: Eagleone on February 3 2011 8:52 AM

Dogs have feelings too... I had a dog that would sometimes have nightmares in his sleep... I'd wake him up and he'd look at me with the 'I'm glad to see you' sort of look and a few humfs and back to sleep. Can't tell me they ain't thinking things in their heads... they are smart animals and should be treated with more respect than mass killings.

Posted by: Outwest on February 3 2011 9:57 AM

Dogs are not Farm Animals, they are Mens best Friend, have you ever sat in your Car in a Parking Lot and in the Car next to you is a Dog waiting for it's Owner to come back?

Posted by: whoawhoa on February 3 2011 10:50 AM

After reading some of the comments posted on here it seems we have a "damned if you do, and damned if you don't" situation here. Comparing this to murdered women of the highway of tears is rediculous. This incident has a witness and mulitple people involved and they're investigating and looking into how the industry is regualted to prevent something like this from happening again. Good for them for doing this!!
There are people out there that devote time and money and energy into animal rights, have it be a dog or a chicken or a fish. It is unfortunate that it would take a mass cull to shed light on an imperfect regualtion system, but it has. Lets learn from it and make sure it doesn't happen again.

Posted by: gus on February 3 2011 3:46 PM

It is February.

Almost time for the annual seal cull. Will there be a federal or east coast commission for that as well?

How about canned hunts?

What about the bears, moose, elk, etc. that are shot by people who are not expert marksmen, fall down, and get up with one eyeball hanging from its socket the same as was the description of what happened to one of the dogs?

Why do we draw the line at sled dog culling? Because they are dogs? Because they are associated with the Olympics? Because it got quick international coverage, just as the seal hunt does every year?

Can we be a bit true to ourselves and deal with this from a more global persepctive, or will this be jsut another story of the moment and by next year wit will have been forgotten?

I suppose one has to look at this as one step at a time .....