The owner of 100 neglected sled dogs has turned the animals over to an emergency shelter because he could no longer care for them, officials with the SPCA Laurentides-Labelle and Humane Society International said Tuesday.
"The dogs were chained outside without regular access to adequate food, clean water or shelter," Nikolas Gour, a Humane Society International spokesman, said in a statement.
The dogs were being kept in a former home in an undisclosed town in the Upper Laurentians, about 35 kilometres north of Mont-Tremblant. They have now been transported to an emergency shelter in Val Morin, Que., and are being provided with veterinary care, officials said.
The owner agreed to give up the dogs after he was approached by the SPCA, which had received reports about the animals' poor living conditions. But officials said it took months to persuade him to hand the dogs over.
The living conditions could have gotten much worse because about 30 of the seized dogs were pregnant, said Corinne Gonzalez, executive director of the SPCA Laurentides-Labelle.
"Without our intervention, the owner could easily have found himself with 150 more puppies when winter is right around the corner," Gonzalez said.
"The puppies would be dead," Gour said." "First of all the mothers wouldn't have enough food to give proper milk. Also, the owner wasn't really taking care of them."
The owner of the dogs will not face charges, officials said..." More
