Ministerie van Milieu in British Columbia (Canada) betrokken bij onderzoek dierenmishandeling in fokcentrum dierentuin bij Vancouver

B.C. investigating animal-cruelty allegations at zoo

14-12-2009 The Montreal Gazette, Canada


VANCOUVER — The B.C. Environment Ministry is getting involved in the animal-cruelty investigation at the Mountain View Conservation and Breeding Centre in Fort Langley, outside Vancouver.

Environment Minister Barry Penner told The Vancouver Province ministry officials will help get to the bottom of allegations concerning the facility that works to breed endangered species and release them back into the wild.

Allegations of mistreatment and inhumane “euthanasia” of sick animals at the facility — strenuously denied by zoo owner Gordon Blankstein — were compounded last weekend with the death of two giraffes. Mountain View and the B.C. SPCA are working to determine what caused those deaths.

Blankstein, known as an environmental philanthropist, defended the facility.
“A lot of these animals are highly inbred because the populations are so small. They are susceptible to disease and sickness and they are harder to take care of and keep alive.”

(Bron: http://www.montrealgazette.com/)