Your Province

Animal refuge closes shop after SPCA and cops visit
Centre made headlines when it offered job to homeless rescue hero

Christina Montgomery, The Province
Published: Friday, February 09, 2007

The gates are locked and the phones are out of service at a Cloverdale horse-rescue centre that made headlines a year ago for offering a heroic homeless man a job.

In November, three days after Surrey RCMP found remnants of a marijuana grow-op at the Brighter Days Horse Rescue Centre, the SPCA removed an assortment of animals from the 40-hectare site.

Marcie Moriarty, manager of cruelty investigations for the SPCA, said three horses, two llamas, five chickens, five rabbits and two rats were handed over voluntarily by their owners, who "recognized they were no longer able to provide what can be quite intensive care for horses in need, and the other animals."

The agency, which had what it terms "past dealings" with the centre, found the animals had poor feed, little or no water, little access to shelter, and the site had broken fencing and hazardous materials.

The horses and llamas remain with the SPCA and are in need of homes.

The Nov. 6 handover followed a visit by police to the 175th Street site on Nov. 3, when three pot plants were found. Used planters were also seized.

Petra Smith, founder of the centre, could not be reached for comment.

The centre's phone number was listed as out of service and its e-mailbox was not accepting messages. The gates of its property were locked.

The centre made news in January 2006 when Smith hired a homeless man who helped save a woman who had fallen into the icy Fraser River.

Keith Finsterwald worked briefly at the centre. After his first paycheque, he began to keep erratic hours and was fired, Smith said in March.