New features are coming soon. Login with Facebook to get an early start and help us test them out!
CONVICTED: Was justice served?
more information on voting
When you vote, you are voting on whether or not the punishment fit the crime, NOT on the severity of the case itself. If you feel the sentence was very weak, you would vote 1 star. If you feel the sentence was very strong, you would vote 5 stars.
Please vote honestly and realistically. These ratings will be used a a tool for many future programs, including a "People’s Choice" of best and worst sentencing, DA and judge "report cards", and more. Try to resist the temptation to vote 1 star on every case, even if you feel that 100 years in prison isn’t enough.
Case #10255 Rating: 3.4 out of 5
Wednesday, Jun 7, 2006
Disposition: Convicted
Defendant/Suspect: Carlo Panacci
Carlo Panacci, 42, of Thornhill, Ontario pleaded guilty in the Ontario Court of Justice, Toronto West on December 1, 2006 to two counts under the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act for failing to inspect live-holding traps at least once a day and causing wildlife unnecessary suffering.
On June 7, 2006 an Ontario SPCA investigator attended a property in response to a complaint and found two juvenile raccoons and a mother raccoon in live-holding traps without food, water or shelter. The raccoons were trapped on the building's black roof on a sunny day during which temperatures reached over 27 degrees Celsius (80.6 degrees F). The Ontario SPCA removed the juvenile animals immediately to relieve their suffering. Sadly, the mother raccoon was already dead.
Necropsy results of the mother raccoon were consistent with being left without food and water, including dark and thickened blood, empty intestinal and urinary tracts and congested lungs and meninges (the three membranes that envelop the brain and spinal cord). The pathologist found no evidence of pre-existing disease.
Further investigation revealed that Panacci, operator of Cain Pest Control and Cain Pest & Wildlife Control, had been hired by the building's property manager to trap and remove the raccoons. Panacci had placed the traps on the roof on June 4, 2006 and did not return to the site until the afternoon of June 7, 2006, after receiving a call regarding the raccoons from the property manager the previous evening. At the time of the call, the adult female raccoon was alive.
Carlo Panacci received a $1,000 fine for failing to inspect the live-holding trap once a day and a $1,500 fine for causing wildlife unnecessary suffering.
"Wildlife removal companies, as well as individuals who do live-trapping, must act in a humane way in accordance with the law," says Ontario SPCA Acting Chief Inspector, Hugh Coghill. "Failure to do so will not be tolerated and will lead to prosecution."
References
- OPSCA Press Release - Dec 6, 2006