January 31, 2011
Tourism Whistler suspends reservations over post-Olympic sled dog cull
By ROBERT MATAS
Globe and Mail Update
70 dogs were shot following drop in business
Tourism Whistler has suspended reservations for dog-sledding at Outdoor Adventures Whistler following reports that at least 70 healthy Alaskan sledding dogs were shot after business dropped following the 2010 Winter Olympics.
"Until there is further clarity regarding these allegations in place, we've decided to suspend the sale of Outdoor Adventures dog sledding activities, Breton Murphy, a senior manager of communications at Tourism Whistler said Monday.
"We've discussed [the suspension] with Outdoor Adventures and they completely understand it is appropriate for us to make this move while this gets cleared up," he said.
Also, full refunds will be provided for anyone who has booked a dog sledding tour and wants their money back. Mr. Murphy did not have an estimate of the number of bookings that could be affected.
Earlier Monday, WorkSafe BC confirmed that an employee with Outdoor Adventures Whistler received compensation for post traumatic distress disorder after he was required to shoot the dogs. The huskies, weighing about 40 to 50 pounds, were used by the sledding company to take tourists into the wilderness around Whistler during the 2010 Winter Olympics but were uneconomic to keep after the Games were over and the tourists went home.
"People might be shocked, in the sense, you spend your $150 and you see 20 dogs hooked up in an idyllic setting in Whistler," Marcie Moriarty, the general manger of cruelty investigation for the BC SPCA said Monday in an interview. "What do you do not see is the 200-plus dogs tethered back at the compound," she said
"When the demand is not there, presumably what happened in this case, they just decided to put them down. Apparently the reason was that they needed to reduce the herd," she said.
The company's general manager, who has not been identified publicly, says in his claim for compensation that he went out on April 21, 2010 and April 23, 2010 with a shotgun and proceeded to kill the dogs.
"What is extremely upsetting is to read what he described - some of them requiring mulitple shots, his having to slit their throats, dogs faces being blown off and they were still running around, dogs that he thought had been dead, that he put in what he described as a mass grave and he looks back and sees her trying to climb out," Ms. Moriarty said.
"That one, to me, I had to stop reading them and pick it up later. It is just so upsetting."
Ms. Moriarty said she believes the killings are Criminal Code offences. "I have no doubt he has PTDD but does that absolve him? No one can force you to commit a Criminal Code offence," she said.
"As for the company, they are morally responsible, absolutely, for any connection to this."
The dogs were buried in a mass grave that has not yet been identified, Ms. Moriarty also said.
The BC SPCA is authorized in B.C. to conduct investigations under the Criminal Code. Ms. Moriarty said the BC SPCA will conduct an investigation into the killings and make a recommendation to B.C. Crown Counsel on whether charges should be laid against the employee. The agency will also determine the location of the mass grave.
The BC SPCA does about 6,000 cruelty to animal investigation annually although the organization receives no government funding, she also said.
Ms. Moriarty added that the RCMP has indicated they are prepared to assist if necessary.
The general manager's lawyer Corey Steinberg was not available early Monday for a comment. A WorkSafeBC spokesperson said claims for compensation are confidential and the provincial agency could not release the compensation decision that sets out the circumstances of the event.
The company has said that 100, not 70 dogs were killed.
A news release from the company says it did not instruct the general manager to carry out the killings.
The company was aware of the "euthanization" of dogs, the release states. "But it was our expectation that it was done in a proper, legal and humane manner," the news release says. Company officials only
became aware of the incident on Friday.
The general manager ceased managing the business not long after the events in late April, the unsigned release also says. The company declined to release further information about the general manager as a result of his "emotional condition."
Significant changes were made after the events of last April to ensure humane treatment of the dogs and improve safety protocols, the company also stated.
Any dogs requiring euthanasia are taken to a veterinarian's office and no firearms are on the site, the release says.
Also, about 75 of the dogs have been given away for free to operators in British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario, all male dogs in the kennel have been neutered and the dogs have been moved into an open-pen style kennel where dogs are neither tethered nor chained, the release says.
Outdoor Adventures Whistler's website says the company is the largest dog-sledding operator in North America.
The company offers a three hour trip - two hours with the dogs - for $169 per person. The dogs are described as a "team of energetic and loveable Alaskan racing Huskies".
A dog sled musher teaches the basics of driving a sled with verbal commands and sled-handling techniques.
"You'll get a thrill like no other as you head out into the pristine Soo Valley, handling your very own team of dogs," the website says.
Kim Wilson, owner of a competitor to Outdoor Adventures, says she heard about the incident in the news Monday.
Her company, Blackcomb Snowmobile, is a family-owned winter activity company that currently has 61 dogs for sledding. Her company expanded to up to 90 dogs during the Olympics by bringing in contractors who had their own private teams of dogs. "When we retire dogs, we've been lucky enough to find good homes for them," she said.
Outdoor Adventures tried unsuccessfully to buy Blackcomb Snowmobile, Ms. Wilson also said.
"That company is owned by Joey Houssian, who is trying to be the Intrawest of activity-operators and create a monopoly in the industry," Ms. Wilson said, referring to the company Intrawest Corp. that developed the Whistler and Blackcomb ski villages into year-round centres.
"[Joey Houssain] bought up a bunch of companies and tried to squeeze smaller operators out and create a large conglomerate. . . to create a large activity company - rafting and sleigh rides and snowshoeing," she said.
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