Andrea Rosebrock 
See Feb 2 Follow-up HERE
Before you-all click on the little link “continue reading post”, let me just say this…
I’m sorry about what you will be reading.
Lord God Have Mercy.
100 sled dogs were slaughtered “Exectution Style” in April 2010, all in the name of “business”.
Outdoor Adventures Whistler, located in the Soo Valley north of Whistler, British Columbia, Canada, anticipated a booming post-Olympics business with their Sled Dog tours. It didn’t happen. With 300 sled dogs and slumping business, it was decided to reduce their “herd” of sled dogs. There were too many dogs and not enough tourists. Some were rehomed, but not many. Then some creep up the corporate ladder decided most had to go – any which way possible.
An employee of Howling Dog Tours Whistler (a subsidiary of Outdoor Adventures Whistler) killed the dogs last April. The dogs were either shot or had their throats slit and dumped into a mass grave.
This worker received compensation for post-traumatic stress from WorkSafeBC (Workers Comp), and it was that inspection report that somehow managed to get into the hands of the RCMP and the B.C. SPCA.
I’m just going to print an account that was published in the Vancouver Sun.
The man responsible for the “execution-style” cull of 100 sled dogs that were no longer of use to the Whistler-based Outdoor Adventures “due to a slow winter” season had known a lot of the dogs and was so traumatized by the slaughter he now suffers from nightmares, panic attacks and depression, according to a confidential workers’ compensation review decision obtained by the Vancouver Sun.
The unidentified man said he had raised many of the 300 dogs owned by his employer, in fact, naming many of them. But over a two-day period in late April 2010, he agree to carry out the orders from his employer to euthanize some of them because part of his job duties “included herd control.”
In the document, the man thought he had put down 30 per cent of the company’s herd — approximately 70 animals — but the employer’s report of injury to the animals, filed with the review board in May, stated it had actually been 100 dogs.
The information came to light after the employee filed for workers’ compensation after developing post-traumatic stress disorder for allegedly being forced to kill the dogs — potentially after bookings slumped following the 2010 Olympic Games.
A veterinarian had been contacted but refused to participate in the cull of healthy animals.
The report also stated the man tasked with the job tried to adopt out the dogs but with limited success.
“In the past, his practice when euthanizing a dog was to take it for a walk in the woods and give them a nice meat meal to distract them. That would make for a calm environment and kept the dogs away from the general population so as not to disrupt them. He would use a gun to euthanize the dogs,” the report states.
However, because of the large number of dogs, he said he was forced to euthanize the dogs in full view of the other animals. By about the 15th dog, it appeared to him “the dogs were experiencing anxiety and stress from observing the euthanasia of other members of the pack and were panicking.” As a result of the panic, a dog named Suzie was only wounded by the employee.
“Susie was the mother of his family’s pet dog ‘Bumble.’ He had to chase Suzie through the yard because the horrific noise she made when wounded caused him to drop the leash,” the report states. “Although she had the left side of her cheek blown off . . . he was unable to catch her. He then obtained a gun with a scope and used it to shoot her when she settled down close to another group of dogs.”
It also states when he went to get the dog, he was bitten in the arm. After disposing of Suzie’s body, he returned and noticed another dog — named Poker — that was special to him and not slated to be euthanized had been accidentally shot.
“Poker was covered in blood from a neck wound and covered in his own feces. He believed Poker suffered for approximately 15 minutes before he could be put down,” the report states.
The employee had put down about 55 dogs on April 21, and by the end of the day, the dogs were so panicked they were biting him and he had to wrap his arms in foam to prevent injury.
“He also had to perform 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. The last few kills were ‘multiple-shot’ killings as he was simply unable to get a clean shot,” the report says. “He described a guttural sound he had never heard before from the dogs and fear in their eyes.”
But the killings on April 23 were described as “worse” than two days earlier because the herd’s fear and anxiety began almost immediately.
On that day, the first significant killing happened to a dog named Nora, who he had shot 20 minutes earlier and put into the mass grave. He noticed her crawling around amid the 10 or so bodies already there so had to climb down into the grave and “put her out of her misery.”
At that point, the reports states he “wanted nothing more than to stop the ‘nightmare,’ but he continued because he had been given a job to finish and did not want to prolong the suffering and anxiety of the whole kennel population. He stated that he felt ‘numb.’”
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.” The report states he was “covered” in blood by the end.
“When he finished he cleared up the mess, filled in the mass grave and tried to bury the memories as deeply as he could.”
If that report doesn’t make your blood run cold, nothing will. The criminal investigation will focus on the man who killed the dogs, and the corporate management will be investigated as well.
In addition, this worker stated he had worked for the company for years, lived on a farm with the dogs, “and had developed a strong emotional bond of mutual love and trust with them.”
So why couldn’t he just say…
NO
…when told to “reduce the herd”? What did his employer say, order, or insinuate to have him commit such a heinous act. Or was he just told to get rid of the dogs and this is what he thought he had to do.
How could someone who loved these dogs actually kill them in such a brutal manner. And how could someone higher up the corporate ladder even order such a thing.
Something dark runs through somebody’s veins. Something really black.
My politically correct statement is “those responsible for this had better be held accountable”. And my un-politically correct position is…
FedEx ‘em straight to HELL!
Boycotting Outdoor Adventures Facebook
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Thank you Andrea, this is a hard one, to put it mildly!
There are no words, no excuses, nothing that can explain this or excuse this in any way, shape or form! there’s a small part of me that has some sympathy for the person who acted to kill all those innocent, healthy, terrified dogs, from the report you can tell he hurt and suffered doing this. But then I think about the pain and suffering of the dogs; watching and listening to their kennel-mates being cruelly executioned, their terror mounting with every shot and scream and whimper of the victims and any sympathy evaporates. I wish him and everyone involved in this heartless, bloody, cruel massacre straight to hell!!
And I question, will there be justice? There so seldom ever is for the innocent animal victims but we can ask, demand and plead… take a moment, after you dry your eyes… and sign the petition asking for justine for these 100 innocent victims of man’s heartlessness and greed! ~ Deanna
About 18 years ago, I had a vision of the Paradise Animal Sector in Heaven. It is a place that their Creator, Yeshua, created for the animals to enjoy their own kinds of Heaven. It is as large as the earth, but it is flattened out. There is every imaginable terrain, territory, flora and fauna possible for the animals to live in.
Every animal at their entrance there receives a special gift unique to itself. It is something that they dreamed about, needed, or just desired in their hearts. All animals who suffered any kind of physical handicaps also receive a special ability that other able bodied animals do not.
My blind cat who passed over received a special gift of sight in which he could experience all five senses through his eyes.
He could look at any other animal and say,"I see you taste like muffins. I can hear you sound like breaking waves on a sea shore. I can see you feel as soft as satin. etc. All the five senses come through his eye sight.
My crippled cat, who was born without back legs, received the gift of running faster than the speed of light! She can cross the universe in mere seconds.
Every animal who is murdered by the hands of mankind receive wings like an Angelic's. Yes, indeed, there pigs do fly, as well as all animals murdered and butchered for food.
These 100 precious dogs have all gone to their rewards, while their ruthless murderers will go to their punishment after their miserable evil lives are over.
These 100 dogs are flying with wings above the heights of the Animal Paradise with all the birds. They are loved by their Creator in a fashion that we down here cannot match, no matter how much we adore them.
No sparrow falls without their Creator taking note of it. How arrogant of men to believe only they possess souls and are loved by God.
Another gift God gave to all animals, but one unseen by us, is just before they die, their souls are snatched out and hover above their dying bodies. Since their souls are imprinted on their physical brains, to us it appears they are still here suffering, but it is only their bodies. The precious dogs were above their bodies witnessing it all. That was a gift I was told, so that when animals come to Heaven, they never have to meet the other animal that might have eaten them. The animals are only eating the soulless body, and not the animal whose soul is hovering above it.
Their suffering on earth is well over, and they are living with joy unspeakable. Don't cry over them now. Just keep working to stop animal cruelty that still goes on all over this globe. There is so much more I could share, but please believe that all animals do go to Heaven, while humans are not assured the same future.
I can't imagine such a horrible thing. I have Siberians here…rescues…and have come to know and love the dogs like my own family.
Speaking as someone who has been forced to put a beloved dog down with a gun, I can assure you that it's not something that comes easily and not something that you can readily get over…and I've seen intense ground combat in Vietnam as a Marine rifleman.
To systematically shoot a hundred healthy dogs is beyond comprehension. I hope that his conscience eats him alive, and I hope that the man who gave the order dies a coward's death.
I'm keying this and then I am going to go downstairs and give my little wolf a huge hug. Words fail, and there is no hell worthy of the monsters who did this…
Can we organize a legal fund so that we can hire a bulldog attorney that will fight to achieve a record penalty for this individual and this company? I will contribute $50 to such a fund if others will as well and someone locally will arrange for such legal counsel.
OH MY GOD I AM SPEACHLESS. IF THIS WAS MY EMPLOYER I WOULD HAVE REFUSED TO CARRY THIS OUT. NOBODY COULD EVER MAKE ME DO SOME THING LIKE THAT & THIS MAN COULD HAVE REFUSED TO DO THIS.I JUST HOPE THE REMAINING DOGS HAVE NO LASTING EFFFECTS FROM THIS CRUEL & COWARDLY ACT.BOTH HIM & HIS EMPLOYER SHOULD BE SHOT.
My wish for these bastard…. I hope that at some point in their lives all of the people involved experience the same pain that they dished out.
I told my husband about this story while we were driving in the car at noon today. He then related a story about his father telling him about being out at the Seymour, Texas dump one day. He saw either deputies or Seymour, Texas police shooting and killing dogs that had been considered to be stray dogs that were rounded up. They had been deemed "excess" and this was how they got rid of them. My husband said this occurred 25-30 years ago, and could not be proven. Why would something like this be made up?
This has been all over the local news and has come back to bite him (the owner) in the ass. The town has boycotted him and refused to book any of their outdoor adventure tours.
This is the most horrific news I ever heard. We as the peole must make sure these monsters are punished. We must stop overbreeding. It makes me discusted to be a Human Being. God will get you and you will suffer in the same way these blessed dogs did. I keep crying for these pure spirits. Amen
I want this sadistic perp (Joey Houssain) and ALL the employees who knew about this sadistic activity AND the corporate perps who ordered this "solution" to their "problem"–each and EVERY ONE–to suffer horribly during their deaths. Until their deaths, I hope they suffer each and every day in agony. I hope this company goes broke and they all, listed above, die of hunger as well as in horrific pain. I hope the boycott against this company continues to NEVER stop until the ONLY thing left on that property is a memorial to those poor, tortured pups.PTSD,you GO and keep doing your job; GOOD BOY!!
There is a ton of new information cropping up as reporters continue to dig into this. Like, Outdoor Adventures Whistler KNEW about the cull but said "we thought it was done humanely", like by a vet. But they took over the dog sledding operations just shortly after this happened and promptly banned guns from their premesis and changed how they euthanize the dogs (always with a vet now).
They are also NOT contesting the workers comp claim. Interesting. If this is not the way the "reduction of the herd" happened, then they would have contested the claim. It passed and this worker was awarded.
All of this makes me believe they DID KNOW EXACTLY what happened, they just looked the other way.
How do I sign the petition. I am overwhelmed with Disgust. This must reach everyone. No One should be compensated. They should be tortured as these Dogs were. Please, for the sake of there lost souls. And they do have Souls.
Just click on the "Petition" link and it will take you to the petition.
This is beyond belief !! I can not imagine the incredible fear and pain those poor dogs suffered at the hands of a coward who professed to have formed bonds with them, but still slaughtered them in cold blood. What the hell ?? People have to be made accountable for this heinous crime. And the law needs to be looked at that can allow this to happen with impunity. My fear now is, that along with the oh so deserved boycott of this mickey mouse outfit, they may see fit to further CULL their HERD !!
God help us all…
That anyone could claim that this is euthanasia is absurd. This was "disposal of superfluous assets" according to these despicable miscreants.
Euthanasia is a word these criminals have no business using.
That these souls are considered property is an angle they will no doubt use as legal defense.
I am in touch with someone in BC. We are going to try to do something here. Any feedback from my previous post? Anyone? Bueller?
So as their business continues to go to hell, which is the least they deserve, but what happens to the rest of the those poor babies if business slows down more?? I cannot imagine the fear and anxiety they must have felt and the saddness and confusion the survivors must be feeling! I protest this kind of treatment(sadly this scenario happens in slaughterhouses everyday) and advocate for animals raised for food by not eating or using animal products, I wish I could protest this crap and advocate for those innocent victims by more than just signing the petition!! When will people see that animals have feelings and personalities? I have a button that says, "Humans are not the only species in the world, we just act like we are!" Oh and to the scum that did the killing, you COULD NOT and WOULD NOT slice the throat or shot anything that you "had developed a strong emotional bond of mutual love and trust with them.”
You have a link titled "Howling Dog Tours Whistler" which links to the Canmore company of a similar name. Please would you correct this inaccuracy. Thank you.
I've become aware of that. I will edit the post. Thank you for your message.
Folks: HowlingDogTours.com (Howling Dog Tours Ltd.) is NOT the company involved in this tragedy. As more information is coming available, it is now known that the company involved is Howling Dog Tours Whistler Inc., (similar name, different entity). They sold their operations to Outdoor Adventures Whistler.
<span style="font-size: small;">See Feb 2 Follow-up HERE</span>
I honestly thought I'd read the last thing that could cause me to cry out loud and then vomit, but I was so wrong. This is without a doubt the most horrific thing I've seen ever. To not refuse to do it to begin with is beyond my comprehension, especially knowing the bond and trust these innocent dogs had with him. I can't begin to imagine their terror at watching their pack get slaughtered one by one in the most cruel manner. They were trapped, they knew it, they saw what was coming and they had to have been shaken to their very souls. They TRUSTED him. They LOVED him. He betrayed that trust and love in the most awful manner possible. HE doesn't deserve an ounce of sympathy nor a DIME of compensation. HE HAD A CHOICE. He could have WALKED AWAY. I hope they hang him in the town square and allow others to stone him to death. No punishment is enough for this heinous act of cruelty. RIP little ones. We who fight for animals every day WILL NOT FORGET nor allow your slaughter to be in vain.
Very well said, Bonnie!
This type of thing has been going on for years, but this one came out full blown. Truth is, in most provinces you are in your legal right to shoot your dog dead with one humane shot. Problem is, there is nothing humane about killing your best friend. I would say outdoor adventures better close the doors cause they are finished. Good. As if those poor animals didn't know what was happening to them. They would know before we would know. I am thinking aobut my little guy right now and I will hold him tight tonight.
Well folks, either my idea is unpopular here or I am. No reply to my post asking if anyone is interested raising a fund that may help in a civil prosecution. I have and will continue exploring the possibility elsewhere.
I heard about this story about a month ago. The more I hear about this, the sicker my stomach gets. Humans can be so inhumane.
I believe that all pet owner/lovers should boycott this business and this town until this matter is properly dealt with! I would have been more then happy to have adopted or foster some of these dogs!
The task force that was appointed to examine and make recommendations on the sled dog business has released its report. I've been trying to do a blog post update – still going through all the PDFs. No one has been charged yet because the criminal investigation is still ongoing. Once the ground has thawed sufficiently, the mass grave will be dug up.
I believe there IS a network that provides adoption and fostering for retired sled dogs. I'd have to look it up for you. Thanks for stopping by.
When I heard that this happened I was sicken. It seems to me that they didn't even try to find homes for these dogs.I know that someone would have stepped in to help finds places for those dogs.I am still very pissed off that this happened. I can't even put into words what I would like to do those reponsible. We have a husky and he is my boy. I will always mourn for those dogs.