It was a year ago this month that news of the now-infamous sled dog slaughter in Whistler, B.C, made headlines around the world.
After it emerged that a tour operator with Outdoor Adventures Whistler had shot and stabbed approximately 100 healthy sled dogs the previous April, there was an outpouring of condemnation, and a month later the company suspended its sledding operations.
But the story may have a happy ending after all.
Despite an abundance of negative publicity after news broke of the shocking cull, Outdoor Adventures has now been transformed into the Whistler Sled Dog Co., owned by the Sled Dog Foundation, a newly created not-for-profit that aims to become a model for sledding operations worldwide.
The new company began operations just before Christmas in the Soo Valley north of Whistler and business has been brisk, says Sue Eckersley, one of the foundation’s three committee members.
Although the massacre gave the sled dog industry and Whistler a black eye, she says the industry has rebounded and people have put the ordeal behind them.
“I think that people—both the public and the media—have embraced this new situation, and I think what everybody wants is to know that going forward things are going to be different.”
Eckersley says the operation will be a basis for research on sled dog behaviour and care, and everything learned will be made available to sled dog operators around the world to improve their operations and the well-being of their animals.
“Plus, there’s all these companies that have been operating really well with great knowledge, and what we would like to do is be a home for all that knowledge,” she says.
“The best thing about this whole scenario is that the potential is huge. We have an opportunity to influence thousands of dog’s lives.”
In mid-December, Outdoor Adventures owner Joey Hussain donated the business to the foundation, including 151 dogs, land leases, kennels, and equipment.
“[A]fter significant research and consultation with animal welfare experts, academics, and others, my team concluded that we would try to influence positive change for the industry and for the welfare of sled dogs. We believe the creation of this foundation is the best way to achieve this,” Hussain said in a press release at the time.
The foundation has a no-kill policy unless an animal has to be put down for health reasons, and an area has been set aside where retired dogs can live out their old age. Profits will go toward establishing best practices and educating sled dog operators.
‘Drastic Action’
It was initially believed that around 100 sled dogs had been slaughtered by Bob Fawcett, who ran Outdoor Adventures’ sled dog division. But an investigation by the BC SPCA found only 56 dogs in the grave where they had been buried.
A worker’s compensation claim for post-traumatic stress filed by Fawcett detailed how he had killed the dogs by shooting them or slitting their throats, then buried them in a mass grave.
In an online forum for soldiers suffering from post traumatic stress disorder, Fawcett said he was told that the sled dog division of the company would go out of business unless “drastic action – immediate disposal of half the herd” was taken.
“I reluctantly agreed to do the job – I was told we had two days to get the job done due to a large tour group we had coming,” he wrote.
Fawcett, who went into hiding at one stage because of death threats, said he had been diagnosed with PTSD and was “in a bit of a mess” since the cull. “I have had to execute and watch most of my best friends die,” the father of two wrote in the posting.
Continued: Hussain told the media he took “moral responsibility” for the cull ...
After the story broke, Hussain told the media he took “moral responsibility” for the cull. But in a press release at the time he said that while Outdoor Adventures Whistler was aware of the relocation and euthanization of the dogs, the company “expected this to be done in a proper, legal, and humane manner.”
In the December press release about the donation of the business to the foundation, Hussain said he was unaware of how Fawcett planned to put down the dogs.
“The allegations about how the sled dogs were treated came as a great shock to me and my staff,” he said.
Crown Counsel is reviewing the case to determine whether criminal charges should be laid against Fawcett.
The incident resulted in changes to B.C.’s animal cruelty laws, with jail sentences increasing from six months to two years, and fines for serious animal abuse rising from a maximum of $10,000 to $75,000.
‘Animals and Money Don’t Mix’
Some animal welfare groups continue to lobby against the sled dog industry. The Vancouver Humane Society is opposed to commercial dog-sledding and would like to see it banned.
“Basically, in our view, animals and money don`t mix,” says VHS communications director Peter Fricker.
“There’s an inherent problem when animals are relied upon for revenue for businesses and we think that’s the case with sled-dog operations in that whenever there is a financial downturn or the company gets into financial trouble, we feel that there is always going to be a risk to the dog`s welfare because they are seen as the sources of revenue.”
He says the dog-sledding industry should take responsibility for the animals from birth to death rather than culling them or passing them on to animal rescue groups when they are no longer useful.
“What happens is that if they’re not culled—which does happen and has happened in the past, and obviously the Whistler incident was an extreme example of that—then they get passed on and individuals or rescue groups end up with these animals and taking on the responsibility for trying to find them a new home, for retraining them, and so on.”
Eckersley, a businesswoman who also serves on the board of Whistler Animals Galore, the local animal shelter, agrees that “there needs to be a lot of education and research in terms of how do we deal with that situation.”
One of the new foundation’s aims is fill the much-needed role of transition adoption agency by working directly with companies in the industry.
A bone of contention with animal rights activists is that sled dogs are normally tethered. But since the foundation took over operations, Eckersley says that already most of the dogs at Whistler Sled Dog Co. are no longer tethered.
“We’ve got more than 90 percent of the dogs off tethers now, even though that’s an accepted practice within the dog-sledding world. Our feeling is that from an animal welfare stand-point, having dogs in kennels as opposed to tethers is a better way to go.”
Other initiatives include socializing the dogs to prepare them to live in homes, such as getting them used to household noises like coffee grinders and teaching them how to use stairs, so that they can be successfully adopted out when the time comes.
“I’m excited about the future,” says Eckersley. “I’m excited about the possibilities. We’ve got a great bunch of people on board, and it’s going to be good.”
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