http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2011/02/06/17177991.html
By NADIA MOHARIB, QMI Agency
Last Updated: February 7, 2011 4:46am
CALGARY -- The B.C. man who admitted slaughtering 100 sled dogs last summer should have known a Canmore company he once applied for would have taken in any unmanageable canines, says its owner.
Canmore, Alta.-based Snowy Owl Dog Sledding Adventure Tours has adopted out retired dogs for years and even has waiting lists for those wanting to give them a second chance.
The ones who don't find homes get to live out the rest of their lives with the company and it's almost unheard of to have a healthy dog euthanized, president/owner Connie Arsenault said.
She said the man at the centre of the slayings, Bob Fawcett, who her company declined to hire in 1997, would have been well aware they would be a willing option in his bid to find homes for the 100 dogs killed -- but he never contacted them.
"Just because they are bred to be a sled dog, doesn't mean they always want to be sled dogs," she said.
Last week, a B.C. SPCA official said experts advised sled dogs are not adoptable.
The comments were made after claims by Fawcett, who was an employee at a Whistler company called Outdoor Adventures, that he was twice refused by the shelter when he asked them to adopt unwanted canines.
Shelter official Marcie Moriarty said the shelter wasn't able to help at the time.
"I want to know who the experts are," Aresenault said, regarding the B.C. SPCA's assertion experts claim sled dogs do not make good pets.
"I've been in this for 30 years, if they really knew what they were talking about they wouldn't be saying this."
She said their dogs end up happy in homes with kids, city dwellers or on acreages.
Arsenault and Moriarty agree laws should be put in place to regulate the industry on everything from shelter standards to protocols on how to deal with retired dogs.
One of the Canmore company's lead dogs, Savannagh, is a husky-mix rescued from the Calgary Humane Society.