Judge authorizes private prosecution of horse exporter

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This article was published 28/02/2024 (586 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Animal-rights organizations have taken the unusual step of getting a Manitoba provincial court judge to authorize the private prosecution of a live-horse exporter for allegedly violating federal regulations surrounding the controversial practice.

The case involves a Dec. 12, 2022 shipment by air of horses by Swan River-area horse exporter Carolyle Farms, which the animal-rights organizations allege unlawfully exceeded the 28-hour time limit under federal legislation that live horses are allowed to be in transport without food and water.

The animals were shipped to Japan, where horse meat is sold raw as a culinary delicacy. The horses are fattened there for slaughter.

At a provincial court hearing on Tuesday morning in Winnipeg, Camille Labchuk, executive director of the non-profit organization Animal Justice, with Edmonton lawyer Peter Sankoff acting on her behalf, sought the court’s authorization to proceed with a charge against the horse operation under the federal Health of Animals Regulations.

Animal Justice, along with the Winnipeg Humane Society, Canadian Horse Defence Coalition and Manitoba Animal Save, had filed a complaint with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency over the flight, but the agency did not proceed with enforcement action, which led the groups to pursue the private prosecution. The CFIA did not return a request for comment.

Private prosecutions, which are rarely heard in the Canadian justice system, involve an individual — rather than authorities such as police or the Crown — with evidence of reasonable and probable grounds asking the court to lay a charge against a person they believe committed a crime.

Animal Justice’s legal advocacy director Kaitlyn Mitchell said the case is believed to be the first-ever private prosecution involving farm animals.

“It’s incredibly disappointing,” she said of the federal agency not taking enforcement action. “First of all, we’d prefer if individuals complied with the law, but if that’s not going to happen, then certainly it’s our hope that public authorities take action.

“These laws need to be respected.”

The organizations allege the farm failed to have a contingency plan in place to respond to unforeseen delays that could result in the suffering of an animal, which the farm’s owner disputes.

According to the rights organizations, three horses collapsed during the trip. The farm’s owner said the three animals fell down briefly during the landing in Japan.

The plane was scheduled to take off in the early-morning hours to Anchorage, but a snowstorm in Alaska had closed the airport. The farm then rerouted the plane to Seattle, which resulted in the horses being in transport for “at least 32 hours and 40 minutes,” Labchuk told provincial court Judge Raymond Wyant.

The farm owner, Lyle Lumax, said Wednesday the shipment followed best practices, with input on the ground from Canadian Food Inspection Agency officials, Japanese officials and the plane company.

“There were two choices … (one was to) go two-and-a-half hours over the legal limit, and the other choice was we take three-and-a-half hours to take them off the plane, put them back in the trucks and haul them five-and-a-half hours home and unload them,” said Lumax.

“Everybody involved said, ‘Oh, hell yeah, let them go.’… There was no problems at all.”

He said going over the time limit was in the best interest of the horses.

After hearing evidence, Wyant said he was satisfied the rights organization had brought reasonable and probable grounds to process the charge, though he said he had “some healthy questions” about what defences will be raised and how the legislation will be interpreted by the court.

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“I think that’s properly done by a judge having heard all of the evidence,” said Wyant.

Sankoff will issue a provincial court summons to the farm’s owner.

Lumax first learned of the court hearing when he began getting phone calls from reporters and said he has yet to receive any official documentation.

He said he’s confident the case will be dismissed.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Erik Pindera
Reporter

Erik Pindera is a reporter for the Free Press, mostly focusing on crime and justice. The born-and-bred Winnipegger attended Red River College Polytechnic, wrote for the community newspaper in Kenora, Ont. and reported on television and radio in Winnipeg before joining the Free Press in 2020.  Read more about Erik.

Every piece of reporting Erik produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.