Manitoba dog owner faced Ontario SPCA complaint

Elyse · January 29, 2012

The owner of the Manitoba property were 79 dogs were seized earlier this week was the subject of a complaint filed with the Ontario SPCA by a pet rescue group in that province, CBC News has learned.

Manitoba animal services officers seized the dogs, mainly bulldogs and Lhasa Apsos, on Tuesday night from a shed on the property belonging to Sandy Lasko, the registered owner of Klassi Canine in West St. Paul, Man.

The dogs were stuffed into crates in the shed, with some crates housing two or three animals each, the province's chief veterinary officer said earlier this week.

Neighbours told CBC News that the woman had spent the last few months in Toronto, but they started hearing barking and yelping sounds from the shed after she returned to West St. Paul on Monday evening.

Members of the Ontario pet rescue group Homeward Bound said they visited Lasko's property outside of Toronto last Sunday, after concerns were raised about two bulldogs that were brought to the group's attention.

"The one [dog] the vet estimates to be between three and four years old, she's already given at least four litters because she's had four surgeries, four C-sections. Both dogs also have a very bad uterus infection," Tom Jefferd, a volunteer with the group, told CBC News.

Jefferd said he walked onto Lasko's property and was upset by what he saw, which included several dead goats.

"There was over 100 garbage bags on the property, spread around the property," he said. "We opened maybe 15 of them; 10 of them were literally stuffed to the top with dog [excrement]. And we found five goats."

The Ontario SPCA visited Lasko's Toronto-area property on Monday but found no evidence of dead animals.

Jefferd said his group had already taken away a dog and several live goats and ponies.

Manitoba's chief veterinary officer is still investigating the case from Tuesday night.