The more I learn about the mass-killing of 100 sled dogs in British Columbia, the more the phrase “nobody’s dogs” keeps going through my mind.
They were killed — brutally — by the man who was supposed to be caring for him, who had, in some cases, raised them from pups.
The company that “downsized” them out of existence mostly defended itself by saying it hadn’t known how the dogs were going to be killed, as if a clean death in a vet’s office could somehow sanitize killing 100 healthy dogs.
And the local shelter, whose mission was supposedly to help animals in their community, to provide rescue, haven, and re-homing, was on record saying that even if they’d been aware of the dogs’ plight before they were massacred, they’d probaby have killed them, too.
Didn’t these dogs have anyone who gave a damn about them?
They did. Sadly, those people didn’t know what was going to happen in time to stop it, but they’re speaking out now. For my SFGate.com column, I spoke with a number of sled dog advocates, and learned about their dogs, and efforts to make sure all former and retired sled dogs have a happy ending when their time on the trail is done.
My editor, however, felt that my SFGate readers wouldn’t have enough background, so he had me turn the column into a two-part series. Part one runs today, with a focus on the history of the slaughter in much more detail — some of it graphic — than I shared here on Pet Connection. Click with caution.
It was a dog-lover’s worst nightmare made real. Canadian radio station CKNW obtained leaked workers-compensation documents that graphically described the brutal massacre of 100 dogs in the British Columbia town of Whistler.
A man later identified as Robert Fawcett, manager of a sled dog tour company in Whistler, had filed the claim, citing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) caused by “having to put down a large number of dogs” under orders of his employer, Outdoor Adventures Whistler, because business had fallen off.
Fawcett, the claim states, had been with the company for many years, and knew the dogs well. He had named them. He’d raised them. He was responsible for feeding them, caring for them, and handling them. He lived with them, and was available to tend to them seven days a week. He had developed, he said, “a relationship of mutual love and trust” with them.
Read the rest here… the second part will run next week.
Photo from SFGate.com: A sled dog rests at a kennel operated by Whistler Outdoor Adventures near Whistler, British Columbia, on Saturday, Feb. 5, 2011. Darryl Dyck / AP
No comments:
Post a Comment