By DAN FERGUSON
MetroValley News
Apr 28 2005

DELTA FARMER John van Dongen is pleased but not surprised by a court ruling that the SPCA was wrong to seize three of his horses in December of 2003.
"I told you this was haywire," said van Dongen, the uncle of Abbotsford-Clayburn MLA and Agriculture Minister John van Dongen, told MetroValley News last week.
Vancouver B.C. Supreme Court Justice Carol Ross ruled that the removal of the three horses was "unauthorized and invalid."
While the judge described the 71-year-old van Dongen, a resident of Surrey, as "angry and difficult" in his dealings with the SPCA, she reserved her strongest language for the animal protection officers who took the horses.
"I find a great deal that is troubling with respect to (their) conduct," Ross stated.
She said the animals were not in "critical distress" and the officers should have investigated van Dongen's claim that the horses were getting veterinary care before taking the animals.
One of the horses, "Star," suffered a leg injury when the five-month-old filly was dragged onto a truck, the judge stated.
"The seizure must have been traumatic for these young animals," Ross said.
Another horse, "Tinker," turned out to have a naturally occurring neck growth that cost the SPCA $12,000 in vet bills to remove.
All three horses have since been returned to van Dongen.
The Vancouver verdict is not the first time van Dongen and the animal protection agency have clashed in court.
In 1986, a provincial court judge acquitted him of neglect charges and failing to properly feed two horses, ruling that while the animals were in poor condition, it was not because they were abused.
At the time, Judge Cyril Woodliffe called the seizure of the two horses by the Surrey SPCA "arbitrary and high-handed."
Marcie Moriarty, SPCA general manager of cruelty investigations called the ruling "disappointing," insisting the officers had acted in good faith.