No charges for B.C. zoo where Giraffe died from overgrown hooves

2010-06-15

Canadian Press

SPCA officials say they're disappointed that the Crown has decided not to lay animal cruelty charges against a private zoo in Langley, B.C., where Jerome the Giraffe died earlier this year.

The society's Marcie Moriarty said Tuesday that the Mountain View Conservation and Breeding Centre should have been charged for neglecting the animal, whose hooves were so overgrown he sometimes had to rest on his knees to avoid the pain of standing up.

The facility failed to comply when ordered to trim the giraffe's hooves and didn't have the proper equipment on site to help the animal, she said. On Jan. 10, the SPCA issued further orders that Mountain View consult with a veterinarian to discuss pain management for Jerome, whose knees were bloody from having to kneel.

“The attending veterinarian advised that something ought to be done with Jerome within five days or he would have to be euthanized,” Ms. Moriarty said in a statement.

Jerome subsequently died during surgery on his overgrown hooves.

The Crown told the SPCA there is sufficient evidence to suggest Mountain View took reasonable steps to address the neglect after the SPCA intervened, Ms. Moriarty said.

“In our opinion the situation should never have reached such a critical stage of suffering that SPCA intervention was necessary,” she said. “There is just no excuse for it.”

Ms. Moriarty said the case involving Jerome represents the second time the Crown has failed to proceed with animal cruelty charges against a Vancouver-area zoo.

In 2005, prosecutors charges against the Greater Vancouver Zoo involving Hazina, a baby hippopotamus kept in a shed.

But charges were stayed after the zoo eventually complied with SPCA orders to built a proper facility for the hippo.