The owner of a Busby-area ranch where 30 horses were seized last January has been found guilty of starving her horses and keeping them without adequate supply or access to food and water.
Following a four-hour trial in Westlock Provincial Court Nov. 9, Janice Bourdon, 59, was convicted of causing distress to her animals and failing to provide the proper necessities — the judge stayed the failing to provide the proper necessities charge.
Judge Brian Fraser handed Bourdon a decade-long horse ownership ban and ordered her to pay $4,000, half of which will be given to the Alberta SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) as restitution.
“Your actions at the start of this year was frankly reprehensible,” he said.
“These animals were well beyond starvation and on their way to death. This didn’t happen over night.”
Court heard that on Jan. 15, 27 horses were seized from the property due to poor living conditions, three of which died in recovery.
Bourdon admitted on the stand that two more horses had died earlier that winter, prior to the SPCA’s involvement, but noted that this was the first time she lost horses in her 30 years as an experienced horse owner.
She said there were several factors that led up to the situation, first with her normal hay supplier selling out her order in October, then her difficulty finding an adequate and affordable supply of hay due to the poor harvest season, and then losing her job.
“I was scrambling trying to find something,” she said.
By Dec. 30, she had purchased 15 bales of straw — those found on the property the day of the seizure — in addition to cubed supplements and senior-horse formula. Bourdon said she borrowed $12,000 to pay for it all, while at the same time she continued looking for employment.
“I would check them periodically with my hands, but they were losing weight no matter what I did,” she said. “Truthfully, I was at the point of calling the rescue the same day the SPCA came out.”
SPCA officer Stuart Dodds said during testimony that he had received a complaint on Jan. 13 and arrived on the property the next day to find 10 emaciated horses and one dead in a straw pile.
“The animals were very lethargic,” he said. “You could feel the ribs, the spine, the hip bones.”
Dodds said he didn’t find any water, only snow, and no feed on the property, except for the straw pile with the deceased horse.
He told court that he performed a physical examination on some of the horses and rated them on a body condition score from 1 to 9 — a horse with an ideal body condition ranks at a 5, a severely emaciated horse at a 1, and an obese horse at a 9.
Dodds said he found 10 horses that were rated a 1, one horse at a 5, and the remaining horses ranked at a 2 or 3.
“Generally I have a concern of horses rated at a 3,” he said.
The following day, veterinarian David Cliplef and several more ASPCA officers arrived. The other officers found two more dead horses, and one that was put down because it was too weak to stand.
Cliplef told court he performed a post-mortem examination on one and found no fat around the heart and connective tissues, two areas that are the last to lose fat.
“There was no presence of abnormalities on the internal organs, but a marked absence of fat,” he said.
Cliplef echoed the statement during his cross-examination.
“Last year was particularly difficult for finding high-quality hay,” he said and noted that available feed last year was also expensive.
In the judge’s sentencing, Fraser said he acknowledged Bourdon was financially strapped, but she had no consistent plan to deal with her situation.
“These horses were abandoned,” he said. “Was she acting reasonable from October to January? That’s a distinct no. She did not think or act reasonably… she allowed her animals to continue to be in distress.”
