Unsanitary conditions, no veterinary care: Quebec zoo owner pleads guilty to animal welfare offences
In the wake of a 2019 investigation by the Montreal SPCA, the former owner of the St-Édouard Zoo has pleaded guilty to four animal welfare offences, but is avoiding criminal charges.
Normand Trahan will have to pay nearly $7,000 in fines and is prohibited from owning animals for commercial purposes, a judge determined Wednesday morning in the Trois-Rivières courthouse.
“The result obtained in court today shows how essential this work is,” said Élise Desaulniers, executive director of the Montreal SPCA.
Over 200 animals were seized from Trahan’s zoo in 2019 -- including lions, tigers, zebras, bears, wolves, kangaroos and primates -- after the investigation uncovered evidence of animal cruelty and neglect.
The largest zoo animal seizure in Canadian history, the process took weeks to complete.
According to court documents released in 2019, animals were deprived of adequate food and water, placed in cramped and unsanitary enclosures, and did not receive appropriate veterinary care.
"The Montreal SPCA's Investigations Division is satisfied to have obtained an admission of guilt in this case,” said the division’s director, Chantal Cayer.
The St-Édouard Zoo, which was shuttered in June 2019, was sold earlier this year.
SICK ANIMALS HIDDEN FROM PUBLIC
The SPCA investigation began in August 2018, after zoo visitors complained about the facility’s conditions.
Veterinarian Dr. Marion Desmarchelier served as an expert during the investigation, visiting the zoo in October 2018 to assess the welfare of the animals.
In the 2019 court documents, she’s quoted as saying that, in the course of her career, she had “never seen anything approaching the conditions” of the St-Édouard Zoo.
Desmarchelier said that many of the zoo’s animals were “at risk in the short term of dying of hunger or cold, limited to eating food inappropriate for them [that is] highly contaminated, often from their own excrement, frozen, and sometimes toxic to them.”
Although Trahan initially denied allegations of mistreatment, he did admit to investigators that animals from warm climates were not provided with heated enclosures and that most of his animals did not receive veterinary care -- in fact, he said sick animals were usually hidden from the public eye or sold to avoid backlash.
Trahan even admitted to shooting and killing both a lion and tiger, and killing a bird by stepping on it.
As for the zoo residents who were rescued, Élise Desaulniers says they’ve been moved to new facilities across Canada and the U.S. where they “receive all the specialized care they need.”
With files from The Canadian Press.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
An emergency slide falls off a Delta Air Lines plane, forcing pilots to return to JFK in New York
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
Decoy bear used to catch man who illegally killed a grizzly, B.C. conservation officers say
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
'I was scared': Ontario man's car repossessed after missing two repair loan payments
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.
First court appearance for boy and girl charged in death of Halifax 16-year-old
A girl and a boy, both 14 years old, made their first appearance today in a Halifax courtroom, where they each face a second-degree murder charge in the stabbing death of a 16-year-old high school student.