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A
small but sincere group of protesters showed up at the
North Vancouver Court House this morning (June 19,
2012), politely and quietly holding their signs that
honoured the dead sled dogs, killed by Robert
Fawcett, in
April 2010, shortly after Whistler's Winter Olympics
ended. Mr Fawcett did not appear; his lawyer did for
him. The two lawyers (Crown Counsel and Mr Fawcett's
lawyer), spoke very quietly with their backs to the
public, so the representations they made for more
time couldn't be heard by most of the public, but the
case was put over until August 16th when they will be
back in court for a pre-trial hearing in chambers, and
that won't be public. It may be possible that Mr
Fawcett and Crown Counsel may at some point arrange a
plea bargain with a soft sentence, and there will be no
trial.
As long as the bargain
goes easy on Mr Fawcett, a bargain is certainly in his
best interests. He is spared two weeks of daily
vilification in the media and the whole world, because a
trial would go viral.
And it would be in the
government's best interests for there to be no trial
too. This case so stunned and enraged the world that
the mighty tourism industry must have been exceedingly
angry, and a political party cannot afford to anger such
a powerful lobby. Airing this dirty laundry all over
again is not in the government's best interests either.
Nor, do I believe, that
a trial would be in the SPCA's best interests. Facts
might be proved at trial that cast the SPCA in a very
poor light.
But in my opinion, it's
not in the best interests of the welfare of BC's animals
for there to be no trial. When the BC SPCA fails to
protect animals it must be held to account as must the
owners of the animals.
Read this article in
SFGate. It quotes from an
email from Mr Fawcett to SPCA Special Provincial
Constable Eileen Drever, that was first published in the
Vancouver Sun, in which Mr Fawcett clearly informs her
that the dogs are suffering "cruelty" and begs her for
help. Ms Drever would know better than anyone else at
the SPCA that Mr Fawcett was not being rhetorical when
he used the word cruelty. Ms Drever has had the state of
Mr Fawcett's dogs described to her an unknown number of
times over more than a decade. And she has actually
inspected Mr Fawcett's dogs and found they needed
veterinary care. Yet according to the Vancouver Sun
article, "Drever didn't respond to the e-mail for five
days, and then refused to help Fawcett when she did. She
did agree to visit the kennel and check on the dogs, but
she never followed through."
Animals in BC are not
being properly protected by the BC SPCA and that must
change. But it may not if all is swept under the carpet
by there being no trial.
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See also:
sleddogs/howling-dogs.htm sleddogs/seymour.php sleddogs/spca-gawthorn.php sleddogs/salmo.php www.sleddogwatchdog.com |