Animal abuse trial begins in N.Battleford provincial court

The disturbing testimony detailed the events of one of the officers’ follow-up visits in mid-January last year during a cold snap to Haudeck’s property after receiving complaints the previous fall of animal abuse and neglect.

The charges

Haudeck is facing criminal code charges of committing an offence that “kills, maims, wounds, poisons or injures dogs, birds or animals that are kept for a lawful purpose,” and “being the owner or the person having the custody or control of a domestic animal or a bird or an animal or a bird wild by nature that is in captivity, abandons it in distress or wilfully neglects or fails to provide suitable and adequate food, water, shelter and care for it.”

The punishments may be prison time of up to five years and a monetary fine.

She also faces two charges under the Animal Protection Act as it relates to causing animals to be distressed and also failing to comply with a corrective action order, which come with a sentence of two years and a monetary fine of, at minimum, $25,000.

Doig testified that the initial visit to the property, which she described as being in the rural municipality of Battle River, was Nov. 7 in 2023. As they drove north towards the property, she testified she and another officer could see nine horses in a pasture and two were visibly thin with their spine and ribs showing.

Asked by Crown Prosecutor Danielle Elder what the definition of distress is, the officer explained it was where an animal wasn’t receiving adequate care such as shelter, water, feed, unsanitary conditions or lack of veterinary care.

As they viewed the animals from the road, they could see the pasture where they were kept had been grazed down to dirt.

“We did observe one horse reaching through the fence to try and get some feed that was on the other side of the fence,” she said.

As the officers looked further and drove down the lane to what Doig called the “yard site,” noting it wasn’t a corral area, they could see more horses along the way with dozens of Border Collies in similar condition.

Degrees of emaciation

“When we approached into the yard site…you could see remnants of feed in an area that could potentially have held bales at one time,” she said.

“So, on the ground there was leftovers…let’s say of feed.”

They saw a single strand of barb wires strung across the yard that Doig said was being used as a containment method for the horses.

From this vantage point, they were able to see roughly 15 more horses all with varying degrees of emaciation.

“There was no feed seen in this area for horses. They were seen pawing at the ground,” she said, adding they tried to make contact with the owner, who the Animal Protection Services of Saskatchewan had a history with, but were unable to.

As the witness spoke from the stand, she explained there were multiple visits over roughly two months that included leaving corrective notices and requiring proof of improved conditions. In all, there were roughly 35 horses in the herd and over 20 dogs – including one that was later discovered to have an infection and subsequently prescribed antibiotics.

The horses’ condition was established based on the Equine Body Condition Scoring which measures their physicality on a scale of one to nine – one being emaciated and nine being extremely obese. The ideal score is around five and all of the horses ranged from one to four.

Two-feet deep

Over the course of the months, the officer explained she did receive photos of feed and water along with updates from Haudeck’s vet, but on subsequent visits throughout the fall and early winter of 2023, they saw twine, left over from hay nets wrapped in the barbed wire or on the ground. In mid-November on a follow–up for compliance check, they saw horses without access to feed. Upon going into a barn which housed two stallions, the stalls in which they were kept didn’t have much straw bedding and were roughly two-feet deep in manure.

“The horses…didn’t have ample amount of space above them let’s say, they were getting closer to the roof then would be ideal,” said Doig, noting they did appear to be recently watered and there was evidence of greenfeed leftovers.

As they moved along from pen to pen, the officers noticed most of them had signs of water troughs that showed signs of recently been watered – save for three – one of which was home to a weanling.

“All three of those pens again shared the same water source that was frozen over.”

Following the visits between November to January, there were multiple notices, corrective actions to be issued as the property also showed hazards like unkempt gates with nails visible, poles on the ground, bale netting hanging off of barbed wire.

Frozen

It was the visit on that January day, however, that led the officers, who on this particular visit chose to bring along a vet as they were concerned about the extreme cold that led them to the distressing discovery.

When the team arrived for their check in, they spoke with Haudeck who told them to check in another day as that day, which felt roughly –33 C, wasn’t a good day and told the officers and the vet that two horses “were down and unable to get up.”

The four then went out to a pen where they found the two horses lying on the ground next to a greenfeed bale with their legs tangled and one of them was partially covered with a canvas tarp.

“The two horses struggled and would not rise,” she said.

It was then, in an adjacent pen, they noticed the third horse – frozen and seemingly dead.

After being advised of her rights to council, Haudeck indicated she understood and said she would contact Legal Aid.

All three horses were euthanized.

The trial is expected to last three days, but due to inclement weather, may be adjourned to an extra day.

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julia.lovettsquires@pattisonmedia.com

On BlueSky: juleslovett.bsky.com

by battlefordsNOW staff

Animal abuse trial begins in N.Battleford provincial court

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