Case Snapshot

Case ID: 1215

Classification: Neglect / Abandonment

Animal: horse, sheep, captive exotic, rodent/small mammal (pet), bird (other farmed), goat

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CONVICTED: Was justice served?

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• Currently 5.00/5

Case #1215 Rating: 5.0 out of 5

Exotic breeding-mill
Tofield, AB (CA)

Incident Date: Wednesday, Jan 29, 1997

Disposition: Convicted
Case Images: 4 files available

Defendant/Suspect: Haeli Carter

Haeli Carter, 30, a Tofield-area woman was cited as vowing to launch an appeal after she was found guilty in provincial court Thursday of one count of causing or permitting distress to animals under the provincial Animal Protection Act, and barred from owning horses for 10 years. She was, according to this story, acquitted of the same charge in March 1998, but the Crown appealed the decision, and a retrial was ordered.

During the hearing, the court heard the animal breeder failed to provide enough food and water for at least two horses in her care in December 1996 and January 1997. On top of the prohibition, Judge Peter Ayotte imposed a $460 fine. The maximum fine for such an offense is $20,000. "It's totally unfair,"

Carter was quoted as saying, after the decision. "I love horses. I've always had horses." Although no one contested her love for animals, Crown prosecutor John Hnidan was cited as suggesting that she was unable to provide for them all.  Several witnesses said she had hundreds of animals, and possibly more than 1,000, in her care, including ostriches and other exotic animals, several hundred hamsters, guinea pigs and hedgehogs, a dozen ponies, seven or eight horses, and several hundred goats and sheep. Her main source of income came from child support payments from a former husband amounting to $1,000 a month, with which she had to care for four children and support her unemployed live-in boyfriend.  Douglas Humford, a former investigator for the Alberta Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, was cited as testifing that he found two emaciated horse carcasses and several emaciated horses during a visit to Carter's hobby farm on Jan. 29, 1997.

Dr. John Neufeld, a veterinarian who examined the horses for the SPCA on that day, was cited as saying that the two dead horses had probably starved to death, and that at least two other horses were showing signs of starvation. One adult female was estimated to be 250 to 300 pounds lighter than normal. Neufeld was further cited as saying he also saw several goats and sheep that appeared malnourished. 

References

• The Edmonton Journal

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