A New Life for Link

On June 21, 2022, Ani­mal Pro­tec­tion Offi­cers of the NBSP­CA respond­ed to a report of a neglect­ed dog in Lav­il­lette, north of Miramichi. A con­cerned caller had report­ed that the dog seems to have been chained its whole life. Upon inves­ti­ga­tion, Offi­cers dis­cov­ered the dog chained in the back­yard with the chain embed­ded in his neck. 

In addi­tion to the embed­ded chain, the dog was also dirty, very thin, and miss­ing fur. The own­ers sur­ren­dered the dog to the Offi­cers, and he was tak­en for imme­di­ate emer­gency vet­eri­nary care, where he under­went surgery to remove the chain and received treat­ment for oth­er med­ical concerns. 

The dog was tak­en to the safe­ty of the Bathurst SPCA ani­mal shel­ter. There the staff renamed him Link” and he received dai­ly med­ical care deliv­ered with lots of love and atten­tion that allowed him to recov­er from his surgery, gain some weight and get ready to find a new for­ev­er home. Link made a full recov­ery and was adopt­ed to a new lov­ing home.

On Jan­u­ary 9, 2023, Bernard Bouch­er and Hugo Bouch­er made their ini­tial court appear­ance at Miramichi Provin­cial Court to respond to the charges under the New Brunswick SPCA Act for fail­ing to pro­vide food, water, shel­ter, and med­ical care to Link

The accused plead not guilty to all charges and the tri­al is set for Spring 2024.

About New Brunswick SPCA

Found­ed in 1881, New Brunswick SPCA (NBSC­PA) is the only province-wide orga­ni­za­tion man­dat­ed to enforce ani­mal pro­tec­tion laws. A ded­i­cat­ed team of 15 Ani­mal Pro­tec­tion Offi­cers is vest­ed with the author­i­ty under the SPCA Act of New Brunswick to inves­ti­gate and, if nec­es­sary, lay charges, seize ani­mals, or issue orders to per­sons sus­pect­ed of abuse and cru­el­ty to animals. 

The NBSP­CA is a reg­is­tered char­i­ty that exists to pro­vide province-wide lead­er­ship in the humane treat­ment of ani­mals. We enforce rel­e­vant leg­is­la­tion, ensure shel­ter for neglect­ed or abused domes­ti­cat­ed ani­mals and agri­cul­tur­al ani­mals, and pro­vide pub­lic edu­ca­tion and advo­ca­cy to empow­er New Brunswick­ers to help ani­mals live long and healthy lives. 

To learn more vis­it nbsp​ca​.ca

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