The former owner of the controversial mid-loup expedition kennel, Antoine Simard, is sentenced to 23 months in prison in connection with the killing of many dogs and the ill-treatment caused to animals for more than a decade.
The 44 -year -old man had been found guilty in June 2024 of all the counts brought against him, either to have killed or injured dogs, to have caused them suffering without necessity and to have neglected to provide the food, shelter and suitable care.
In fact, judge Hubert Couture sentenced him to 23 months’ imprisonment on the first two chiefs, and 12 months on the second. However, the penalties will be purged competing.
“The gestures committed are serious and innacceptable. Even if they have been ordered by discouragement and the fact that it has been overwhelmed by events, they reflect great cruelty towards “beings endowed with sensitivity and who have biological imperatives”, as described [dans le Code civil du Québec]”Said the magistrate.
The alleged facts took place from 2008 to 2022 to its Chenil de l’Île d’Orléans, an mid-loup expedition, which offered walks in sleigh dogs and which is closed today.
Overwhelmed by the overcrowding of his kennel, Simard had admitted having had several ranges of puppies by breaking their necks, but only during a limited number of seasons, in addition to having eliminated a certain number of elderly or sick dogs with a gas used for welding, in a craft box, for the “renewal” of the pack.
Hanging, freezing, firearm … former guides who worked in the kennel and who succeeded each other at the helm of the witnesses have allegedly alleged several other methods of disturbing euthanasia which would have been used under his governance.
-The crown argued that it was “probably a thousand dogs or puppies that were put to death by Mr. Simard or under his orders”.
In his decision on guilt, the court had not spoken on the number of dogs killed or on the other methods of death put forward by witnesses, but he said he believed them “as for their stories” describing “all abnormal situations, imprints of violence, pain and injuries”.
The list of dubious practices, reported by witnesses, is long: inadequate niches, groaning dogs in the freezer, food that could be damaged, management by the violence of the kennel, unsanitary facilities or lack of veterinary care.
For this “sordid, rare degree” file, the public prosecutor claimed an exemplary sentence of five years of detention, the maximum sentence provided for in the criminal code for two of the three accusations.
Simard’s lawyer, Me Stéphanie Pelletier-Quirion, asked rather a sentence of two years minus one day to serve in the community, ensuring that “the acts were not caused by malice, sadism or perversion”.
In the case of the co -accused Edouard Parent, a former employee of the company guilty of two out of three leaders (having killed or injured dogs and having caused suffering), the defense and the prosecution offered jointly an 18 -month sentence which would be purged in the community.
More details to come …
