The Tecumseh, Ont., farm animals that hadn't died yet were so hungry they resorted to eating the dead ones. "It's a really horrible situation," said Melanie Coulter, executive director of the Windsor-Essex County Humane Society. "So many animals starving to death is something that's so hard to see.
Even the veterinarian that was on scene was clearly upset with what he'd seen. So, it's hard. There are a lot of animals, and they suffered a lot."
The five-month investigation was the largest of its kind the humane society has conducted since at least the late 1980s or early 1990s.
John Holland is charged with one count of causing distress to an animal, four counts of permitting distress and three counts of failing to comply with prescribed standards of care for animals. Eddie Blake is charged with one count of causing distress to an animal, one count of permitting distress and two counts of failing to comply with prescribed standards of care for animals.
Each charge carries a maximum sentence of two years in prison or a $60,000 fine.
Humane society officers found two ducks, two sheep and 10 pigs dead on the farm. They had all starved to death.
Coulter said the animals were left where they died, scattered around a barn and another building, amid the ones still fighting for life.
"Some of the animals remaining there had been eating the only food they had available, which was the animals who had passed away," she said.
Another pig was in such distress that it was immediately euthanized. The humane society also found two horses, 12 rabbits, three pigs, four sheep and 10 chickens that were all starving.
(The StarPhoenix - July 13, 2013)
