TheProvince.com
April 2012
Criminal cruelty-count for tour operator, who admitted he shot and
knifed 'friends'...
Grisly reports of the execution of sled dogs in Whistler following the 2010
Games, a lengthy probe, and a mass grave exhumation have led to a criminal
animal-cruelty charge against the self-admitted executioner, former Whistler
dog tour operator Bob Fawcett.
On Friday, B.C.'s Criminal Justice Branch announced charge approval against
Fawcett, for allegedly causing unnecessary pain or suffering to a number of
dogs in April 2010. Fawcett's first court appearance is scheduled for May 24
in Pemberton.
The alleged crime, which sparked outrage worldwide, was investigated by the
B.C. SPCA and the RCMP.
Fawcett, former general manager of Whistler-based Howling Dog Tours, claimed
he suffered post-traumatic stress after completing a mass killing of dogs
that were his "friends" - for economic reasons.
In a press release, the B.C. SPCA said: "Gruesome details of the mass
killings were leaked to media in January 2011 after Fawcett filed a
successful claim with WorkSafe B.C., saying the cull left him with
post-traumatic stress disorder. Fawcett also posted details on a PTSD
website, describing how the panicked animals were shot or had their throats
slit before being dumped in a mass grave."
Last May a team of B.C. SPCA constables, veterinarians and forensic
scientists exhumed the bodies of 54 sled dogs from a grave near Whistler.
That evidence supported a B.C. SPCA report submitted to Crown counsel in
September 2011, recommending charges against Fawcett.
In a January 2011 PTSD forum account in which Fawcett said soldiers would be
the only people "who could relate to what I have had to be put through," he
wrote: "So I my manager take a truck to the bottom of the road so no one
could come up and gave him a radio in case I shot myself. I then set about
the direct execution of 60 of my friends on day 1. Some I missed, had to
chase around with blood everywhere, some I had to slit their throats because
it was the only way to keep them calm in my arms."
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