The Sheep Carnage in Cedar, Vancouver Island, BC
November 20, 2002
by Jean Martin
1. WHY I WENT TO CEDAR
On the afternoon of November 20th I received a message from my friend, Stephanie Walker, who runs Walker’s Animal Rescue Centre in Cedar, asking me to go over to a near-by farm owned by Mr. and Mrs. McGuire, where the McGuire's sheep had been attacked overnight by a pack of dogs. Stephanie wanted all the help that was available, due to the desperate condition of the animals. I am unqualified in this area, but I have experience with primate and small animal surgeries.
When I got there in the afternoon, the scene was horrendous. Six sheep were hideously injured. Throats were ripped wide open on two of them. There were multiple severe wounds on each sheep. Ears were hanging off, bones were hanging out, sheep were lying slowly dying- a nightmare scene. Some of the sheep were making desperate attempts to stand.
I learned subsequently (on a visit to the SPCA on Thursday, November 21) that one of the McGuires had contacted the SPCA in the morning and that the SPCA had offered to send Dr Al Runnells of the Bensonview Veterinary Hospital out to euthanise the animals at no cost to the family. They had declined the offer, as somebody they knew was supposedly meant to come out and shoot the animals. Nobody came until at least 7:00 p.m.
2. WHAT HAPPENED EARLY IN THE DAY OF NOVEMBER 20/02
9:00 (approximately) - Mrs. McGuire went over to Ms Walker’s farm to tell her of the attack and to ask if the Walker’s sheep had been attacked. The Walker’s sheep were fine as they are not left in the open at night. Mrs McGuire then left for work at around 9:00 am.
9: 15 (approximately) - Soon after, Ms Walker went over to the McGuire’s farm to see if there was anything she could do to assist the sheep or to offer her condolences. She was surprised to see the sheep were still alive. She talked to Mr McGuire, who gave her permission to help. He said that the family couldn’t afford a veterinarian to treat the sheep. Mr McGuire then left for work.
10:45 a.m. (approximately) - Ms Walker called her friend Leila Tremblay, who has some experience with caring for farm animals and has taken a veterinary assistant course. She came right over to offer any assistance possible. She tried to help by wrapping towels around the throats, disinfecting the wounds etc, buying antibiotic cream out of her own pocket etc.
12:00 noon (approximately) - Ms Walker called Nanaimo SPCA Shelter Manager Lorrain Chiorando. As Ms Chiorando was at a meeting, she was unable to take the phone call. The scene was so distressing, as all the sheep were still alive. Bonnie Pequin, an SPCA animal care worker, told the SPCA staff member who took Ms Walker’s call that all was well and that everything had been sorted out. This message was relayed to Ms Walker. Ms Pequin was in the background as the call took place.
Hours were passing by, with no relief in sight for the sheep. I know that nobody came to put the animals out of their misery until at least 7:00 p.m. when I left. The animals had been in horrible condition since sometime the previous night. In their condition, at least five of them should have been put to sleep much earlier- preferably in the early morning.
3. THE AFTERNOON OF NOVEMBER 20/02
2:30 p.m. - I arrived around 2:30 p.m. I happened to have my camera under the seat of the car, so I was able to document the horror. Around 3:30 p.m. Ms Walker called Bensonview Veterinary Hospital and Dr. Al Runnells agreed to come out. We were all feeling so helpless watching the ongoing misery of the sheep, as they tried to get up and then flopped back down again. Blood was flowing everywhere from each and every sheep. As far as we knew the owners didn’t want to pay, so we collected the money necessary to pay for Dr. Runnell’s service.
Dr Runnells arrived soon after for his first of two visits. He said that there was only one sheep who had more than a 10% chance to live. Dr Runnells said that the critical period (three to four hours after injury) for treatment had passed and the wounds were so severe that there was the likelihood of massive infection. He examined the six sheep and then left, with a promise to call back. The owners were not available to consent to euthanasia or any treatment, so it was pointless for him to stay any longer. The McGuire’s two sons were too young to consent and neither of them seemed to have any idea of how to contact their parents.
When Dr Runnells left, he did not accept the money we had collected
4:30 p.m. - At the request of Ms Walker, a V.I. TV news photographer arrived and he interviewed Mr McGuire and Ms Walker. The segment was shown on Channel 12 the same evening.
4:30 (approximately) - Mr McGuire came home and Mr Ernest Little came to pick up his ram, which was on a breeding loan to the McGuires. This was a previously made arrangement.
McGuire had a brief conversation with Mr. Little about what to do with his ram. The ram was the one sheep who had a chance to survive. The ram had severe damage to both front legs. “Glove wounds” was the term that Dr. Runnells used, as the flesh was parted from the body in the way you remove a glove.
Meanwhile, the little gang of amateurs (that’s us) had made a holding pen out of some chicken wire that we had found on the property. Ms Walker and her husband carried some of the sheep into the holding area. There was no way that Dr Runnells could have worked in the open field, as it was now dark.
5:30 (approximately) - Dr. Runnells returned to this ongoing horror soon after the TV crew had left. The sheep just wouldn’t die. Mr McGuire did eventually agree to have the Little’s ram stitched up. At first Mrs McGuire was unwilling to pay for any of this, but eventually she said that the McGuire family would pay the $150 or so that it would cost. It was dark by this time, so we held a flashlight while Dr Runnells worked and we used car headlights for additional light. Mr McGuire and the two sons helped for a while by holding the ram’s rear legs.
The ram would need a lot of aftercare, injections and wound cleaning which, Dr. Runnells said, meant about 3 or 4 hours work a day. The McGuires said that they would look after him in a clean place on their property. Mr. Little, the ram’s owner, had returned home earlier.
7:00 (approximately) - Ms Walker, her husband Dave, and I left for home. Leila Tremblay had left earlier. The person who was supposedly going to do the humane shooting still had not made an appearance. I don’t know when, or if, he came. The McGuires didn’t identify the person - they just said that they knew somebody who would come.
EPILOGUE
November 21/02 Stephanie Walker made a complaint to the SPCA about the inordinate length of time that the sheep had been left to suffer so horribly. This is when she was told that the McGuires had called the SPCA in the early morning of Wednesday, November 20 and that the SPCA had offered to send Dr. Runnells (coincidentally the veterinarian who Ms Walker called later), out at no charge, to euthanise the animals. The McGuires apparently refused the offer, as they were having somebody come out to shoot the animals sometime later. Presumably this was what led the SPCA to think that everything had been sorted out, when it clearly wasn’t.
I took my photographs into the Nanaimo and Region Branch of the SPCA, so SPCA personnel could see what we were talking about. This is when I was told that the SPCA had made the offer of assistance early on the November 20, which was declined.
To the best of my knowledge the Nanaimo SPCA did not ever attend the scene during the day of November 20, nor did it attempt to determine if the sheep were promptly euthanised or treated for their injuries, but allowed the sheep to slowly and in great pain, bleed to the point of inevitable death. The period between the SPCA being informed and the sheep being shot (if in fact they were shot) may have been as much as twelve hours.
QUESTIONS
1. Did the owners have a duty to ensure that their suffering sheep were euthanised (or shot) or that they be given prompt veterinary care?
2. Were the owners acting legally to leave for work when such suffering was occurring?
3. Are the owners liable to be charged with any offence, and is it solely up to the SPCA to determine if charges should be laid?
4. Does the SPCA have a mandate, or obligation, to intervene immediately under the Critical Distress terms of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act? It appears that the sheep could have been seized and euthanised. They survived at least 12 hours before they were destroyed by being shot, assuming this occurred.
5. Would it be preferable for the SPCA have followed up when Stephanie Walker called at noon on Wednesday, November 20 to say that the animals were still alive?
(Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act http://www.animaladvocates.com/pca.htm>>)