Driver in Calgary cattle truck crash should face animal cruelty charges, advocates say

An animal rights group wants Calgary police to ensure the driver of a semi-truck carrying cattle that crashed this week is investigated for animal cruelty.

Seventeen cows were killed, or later euthanized, as a result of the Tuesday night single-vehicle rollover crash on the eastbound Stoney Trail ramp to southbound Macleod Trail.

“(We) were devastated to hear about the collision that cost the lives of 17 cows, in conditions that I’m sure were absolutely horrific,” says Alexandra Pester, a lawyer with Animal Justice.

Animal Justice is a national organization that is calling for charges in the case under the Health of Animals Act and Animal Protection Act.

Calgary police say the driver of the truck carrying 95 cattle lost control on the curved ramp, causing the truck to roll over and come to a stop in a ditch on the left side of the road.

Emergency responders, highway crews and cattle rustlers spent several hours trying to corral the dozens of animals that survived the crash.

Both the Calgary Humane Society and Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) are also investigating the collision and Pester says Animal Justice has written letters to both groups to remind them that other laws may have been violated in a traffic incident that involves the transportation of animals.

Pester says there are laws that require animals to be protected during transport and she has seen countless cases where animals being taken to slaughter are not being treated as sentient beings.

“Treating these incidents like they are only worthy of investigation under traffic laws, treats the animals involved like they are TVs or piece of furniture,” she says. “It doesn’t treat them like they are vulnerable individuals worthy of protection.”

The Health of Animals Act is a federal statute overseen by the CFIA and, according to Pester, it places legal obligations on anyone transporting live animals.

“In particular, it provides that no person transporting an animal shall handle that animal, or the container carrying them, in any way that is likely to cause the animal suffering, injury, or death,” she says.

Police said they do not believe drugs or alcohol were a factor in the crash, but speed is being investigated as a cause.

The Calgary Humane Society says it cannot comment on the crash while a police investigation is ongoing.

With files from Nadia Moharib