After the Olympic Tourist Rush (Sled Dog Cull)

[something]

Thank you, Locke.

It stuns me that other people in this thread find it reasonable to argue the means by which these dogs were killed, all the while neglecting the circumstances for which they died.

[Pinner]

I don't think anyone has neglected the circumstances for which they died, note the title of the thread and the very first sentence...

[puckluck]

Originally Posted by Pinner

I don't think anyone has neglected the circumstances for which they died, note the title of the thread and the very first sentence...

Well you sure seemed to agree with the way they were killed. I know you're probably a senior citizen who grew up on farms and that was common in your time, but it doesn't make it right in this day and age.

[Pinner]

Originally Posted by puckluck

Well you sure seemed to agree with the way they were killed. I know you're probably a senior citizen who grew up on farms and that was common in your time, but it doesn't make it right in this day and age.

Why do you always get mouthy ?

I said if properly done a .22 to the head is humane, you seem to think it's barbaric even after I shared my story about putting my dog to sleep at the vet.

Clearly this guy had no idea what he was doing and what Global BC is reporting is very disturbing. If putting an animal down with a shot to the head was inhumane, it wouldn't be legal.

[puckluck]

Originally Posted by Pinner

Why do you always get mouthy ?

I said if properly done a .22 to the head is humane, you seem to think it's barbaric even after I shared my story about putting my dog to sleep at the vet.

Clearly this guy had no idea what he was doing and what Global BC is reporting is very disturbing. If putting an animal down with a shot to the head was inhumane, it wouldn't be legal.

Lol mouthy?

Why did you take your pet to the vet if shooting him in the head would be cheaper? Oh right because he was your pet so you cared about him or her.

If you honestly believe shooting a dog in the head is humane there is really nothing I could say. I don't care how properly you do it, it's still not humane.

[something]

Originally Posted by Pinner

I don't think anyone has neglected the circumstances for which they died, note the title of the thread and the very first sentence...

There's a whole lot of space between the first sentence and this page... While you may not have neglected the circumstances, about 90% of your posting has.

Anyways, Globe and Mail updated their story with the following:

Originally Posted by Globe and Mail

“Any dog sledder who culls dogs at the end of a season should be culled himself, as far as we’re concerned,” said Paul McCormick, head dog sledding guide for Wilderness Adventures, a Toronto-based company that runs dog-sledding trips through Canada’s Algonquin Park.


“You don’t go out and cull dogs,” he said. “We’re part of the largest dog sled operation in the world with 40 dogs and we never cull dogs. We retire them, they’re adopted ... there are a lot of alternatives.”

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...rticle1888742/

[Bertuzzied]

What the F? they still have 150 dogs? and were still in business taking bookings?

What an AHOLE. They should compensate him by putting him behind bars for the killings. So he would have slaughtered them with no problem until he came to Suzie.....

The report says the employee, who lived at the same location as the dogs, handled hundreds of dogs. Occasionally he euthanized animals, using a gun, with the support of a veterinarian.
In April, 2010, his job was to cull the herd of about 300 by about 100 dogs. A veterinarian was contacted but refused to euthanize healthy animals. Attempts were made to adopt out the dogs, but with only limited success.
The report states the employee had killed more than a dozen dogs when he came to Suzie, the mother of his family’s pet dog, Bumble. The blast from his gun wounded her horribly, and her screams of pain made him drop the leash. Eventually he had to use a gun with a scope to finish her off at a distance. Other dogs attacked him when he went to retrieve the body.
The employee told WorkSafeBC he performed what he described as “execution-style” killings, where he wrestled the dogs to the ground and stood on them with one foot to shoot them.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Ducay

Seems like CP would have an uprising if they knew how many animals were euthanized every day.

Thanks for filling the ###### void created by your bro's sin binning.

Also, here's the companies contact info for those (like me) that want to vent:

http://www.adventureswhistler.com/contact

[West Karma]

nm

[Pinner]

Originally Posted by rubecube

Thanks for filling the ###### void created by your bro's sin binning.

I don't get what Ducay did ?

[Flames in 07]

Originally Posted by Ducay

Seems like CP would have an uprising if they knew how many animals were euthanized every day.

Your right! Euthanized animals totally justifies what this company did.

[CaptainCrunch]

I don't think there's any instant and easy and painless way to die. I've been thinking about death a lot lately (call me grim), and I don't think there's such a thing as an easy and merciful death.

I think our bodies don't know how to die, and they fight to stay alive as hard as they can, and your brain is sitting there recording every sensation.

Even if you get shot in the head, unless the entire thing is destroyed, the undamaged parts continue to do their job.

And if I believed in a soul, and if it was there, the mere act of it getting torn away from your physical self has to be a terrible pain.

what this guy put these dogs through is an awful terrible brutal thing, and he and the owner of the business have to face the music.

But as human's I think we have some weird sensibilities. We can look at images of wars and human deaths all day, but it doesn't effect us in the same way as a cute dog, or cat or seal dying.

[LChoy]

Slightly off topic and related to Captain's post

There was a documentary on Discovery some time ago about this scienctist exploring what's the most humane way to execute someone. After examining lethal injection, gas, and other forms of executions, he looked at some theoretical possibilities

The one he came up with was oxygen hypoxia, where the person blacks out and dies due to insufficient oxygen. This happens accidentally in high altitude flights (military jumps) or in science labs when Nitrogen leaks and reduces the concentration of oxygen in the air.

back on topic. I'm not sure I agree with the guy that knowingly committed the slaughter, and then gets compensation due to trauma. The organization however should have the book thrown at them

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

But as human's I think we have some weird sensibilities. We can look at images of wars and human deaths all day, but it doesn't effect us in the same way as a cute dog, or cat or seal dying.

Or food, now that it's mostly killed/processed out of sight and out of mind. I'd imagine that is a reason why some go the non-meat route.

Originally Posted by fotze

The one story with the dog who was missing his left cheek and had its eye hanging out while running away was tough to read. Seemed the culler guy was a bumbling fool to top it off. I am picturing Billy Bob Thorton from Sling Blade.

Read the comments on the CBC site, just a mindboggling amount of stupidity that knows no political affiliation. Rednecks, left wingers, pro-animal, pro-business, just all stupid. Wow.

I can imagine one's aim/conviction to kill them getting a little shaky though as the process went on. Pretty messed up.

Gotta agree, lots of stupidity in the general population + anonymity of the internet = gongshow.

[Bertuzzied]

He deserves everything he gets. I hope they make him watch Eight Below 24 hours a day with his eyelids propped open.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/health/...595/story.html

His last memory of killing the final 15 dogs was "fuzzy" and in some cases he felt it was simpler to "get behind the dogs and slit their throats and let them bleed out."
"By the end he was covered in blood. When he finished he cleared up the mess, filled in the mass grave and tried to bury the memories as deeply as he could."
Five days after the final culling, he sought treatment from a clinical counsellor, who said he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
His family physician said the worker, who resides at the same location as the dogs with his family, complained of "panic attacks, nightmares, sleep disturbances, anger, irritability and depressed mood since culling approximately 100 dogs."
In addition to the post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, he exhibited "dissociative symptoms."

[Pinner]

Originally Posted by fotze

Read the comments on the CBC site, just a mindboggling amount of stupidity that knows no political affiliation. Rednecks, left wingers, pro-animal, pro-business, just all stupid. Wow.

I refuse to read any comments on the CBC site, I did once and that was enough.

My take on what happened is that 2 operators funded by the same financial backing, downsized and merged after the Olympics resulting in too many dogs. The manager of the operation that was being taken over, who had worked there for many years was ordered to cull the herd.

From the story it sounds like he was emotionally attached to some, if not all of the dogs. Not at all the cruel monster some people are thinking.

The Vet refused to put the dogs down, he made at least some attempt to give dogs away. Maybe he was in the position of if he didn't do it, he would lose his job. Not easy to get a good job in Whistler especially in April.

Susie was the dog that he had the big problem with, the one that Fotze mentioned. (#15)

Susie was the Mother of this guy's family pet dog, and he was attached to her, that's likely why he f'ed that up, sounds like everything spiraled down from there.

It's a sad story and I hope changes are made to the industry, partial Provincial funding for the SPCA would help.

I'm quite sure the guy that did this is not really the "monster" that some people think.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Pinner

I'm quite sure the guy that did this is not really the "monster" that some people think.

Maybe not, but the guy who ordered this is.

[Savvy27]

Originally Posted by Pinner

From the story it sounds like he was emotionally attached to some, if not all of the dogs. Not at all the cruel monster some people are thinking.

The Vet refused to put the dogs down, he made at least some attempt to give dogs away. Maybe he was in the position of if he didn't do it, he would lose his job. Not easy to get a good job in Whistler especially in April.

You don't get to claim that you have an emotional attachment to dogs, if you are willing to kill them, despite their being healthy, because they have become a financial burden to someone else (as a result of poor planning or disgusting callousness).

The vet refused to put the dogs down because they were healthy and capable of doing the job they were brought in for. The vet was right, the employee/dog murderer was wrong.

Susie was the Mother of this guy's family pet dog, and he was attached to her, that's likely why he f'ed that up, sounds like everything spiraled down from there.

It's a sad story and I hope changes are made to the industry, partial Provincial funding for the SPCA would help.

I'm quite sure the guy that did this is not really the "monster" that some people think.

He deserves every nightmare and bout of depression he gets.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by rubecube

Maybe not, but the guy who ordered this is.

I was just following orders is not a legitimate defense.

[something]

Originally Posted by Pinner

The Vet refused to put the dogs down, he made at least some attempt to give dogs away. Maybe he was in the position of if he didn't do it, he would lose his job. Not easy to get a good job in Whistler especially in April.

...

I'm quite sure the guy that did this is not really the "monster" that some people think.

The veterinarian refused to put the dogs down because they were healthy. Someone mentioned in this thread that the amount of animals in Calgary being euthanized would stoke our ire... I imagine a very large proportion of those animals are being euthanized under circumstances, that at the least, are morally ambiguous.

The circumstances by which these animals were put down were not at all morally ambiguous. It was outright unjustified by moral considerations. Sure, economic considerations provided motivation for the culling of these huskies - though I think we can agree they were brutally inadequate.

The veterinarian did the right thing, and it was in this mans power to do the same.

The vagueness of the sentence "some attempts were made to give the animals away" does not provide a satisfactory picture of the feasibility of adoption. Did he just ask a few friends or did he contact local media to advertise these animals? Both those attempts would have had drastically different results. If the article read, as the situation may have been, that the man had "thoroughly exhausted all attempts to adopt the animals", it would be a different story. The economic motivation of culling the herd would be legitimized, although this would not override the man's obligation to function within the limits of morality.

I imagine that this man is not a "monster". I imagine he did not enjoy doing what he did. I imagine that, yes, it has affected him negatively via PTSD. This, however, does not release him of the obligation to function morally.