The B.C. SPCA has announced that animal cruelty charges will not be laid in the death of Jerome the giraffe.
The animal died at the Mountain View Conservation and Breeding Facility in Langley during an emergency procedure to trim his overgrown hooves.
Marcie Moriarty, general manager of cruelty investigations for the SPCA, said she is dismayed.
“We are very disillusioned with Crown counsel’s decision not to proceed despite the evidence that existed,” she said yesterday. “The reason we were given is there wasn’t a substantial likelihood of conviction.”
Crown counsel said Mountain View took reasonable steps to trim Jerome’s hooves, albeit only after the B.C. SPCA launched an animal cruelty investigation in November 2009.
Moriarty said when animal cruelty officials first arrived, Jerome’s knees were bloody from being resting on because standing was too painful.
“For us, the issue is that this neglect should not have occurred in the first place and we believe that institutions which acquire wild animals should be held to the same standards of care that we expect from other pet guardians,” said Moriarty.
This is the first time that Mountain View was investigated by the B.C. SPCA.
