SPCA to file criminal animal cruelty charges against Langley Zoo

2010-03-04

Sam Cooper, The Province

After winning its war this week to obtain a report on a giraffe death at the Mountain View Conservation Centre, the B.C. SPCA is now filing criminal animal-cruelty charges against the zoo.

Since December, three Masai giraffes have died at the controversial rare-species centre in Fort Langley.

In early December, a four-year-old giraffe and a six-week-old named Gemma died during a cold snap. On Feb. 5, a nine-year-old male named Jerome died after being sedated for a hoof-trimming procedure.

The SPCA ordered Jerome’s “dramatically overgrown hoofs” to be trimmed in late November, but Mountain View was not adequately equipped to complete the operation, which resulted in the tragedy, said Eileen Drever, senior animal protection officer for the SPCA.

Mountain View’s management had previously co-operated with the SPCA in releasing results of the four-year-old giraffe’s necropsy, or animal autopsy. But zoo veterinarian Dr. Bruce Burton was advised not to pass over Jerome’s death report, Drever said. Thursday, the SPCA successfully executed a warrant to obtain the report.

“Jerome’s hoofs were neglected, [Mountain View management] failed to trim the hoofs back and they failed to provide us with a copy of the necropsy report,” Drever said Thursday. “We were successful in getting this warrant, and as a result we have enough evidence to present a charge to Crown counsel next week.”

Marcie Moriarty, head of the B.C. SPCA’s cruelty-investigations department, said charges will be filed under both the Criminal Code and the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.

Shawn Eccles, B.C. SPCA’s chief animal-protection officer, said the maximum penalty for an animal-cruelty charge under the Criminal Code is a five-year prison term or a $10,000 fine. Under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, the maximum is six months in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Gordon Blankstein, Mountain View’s founder and CEO, was contacted repeatedly for comment but did not respond. In previous interviews, he has vigorously denied that animal cruelty and neglect is occurring at Mountain View.

When The Province contacted Mountain View veterinarian Burton for comment on Jerome’s death report, a spokesman in his office said “we’re unable to discuss the necropsy results [because] the owner [of Mountain View] has asked us not to release that information.”

In an interview Thursday, Todd Streu, spokesman for more than 30 former and current Mountain View staff members, said: “Now that the evidence shows there is grounds for criminal charges, the staff think those that made [Jerome’s death]happen will have to face up to what they did.”

The necropsy for the four-year-old giraffe that died at Mountain View in December showed the death was caused by cold and poor diet, Burton told The Province in an earlier interview. The results of baby giraffe Gemma’s necropsy have not been released.

Thomas Knight, a former staff member at Mountain View, said he suspects that cold killed the baby, and Blankstein ought to release the necropsy. Knight and other staff allege that exotic animals at Mountain View lacked for heat because of management’s cost-saving focus.