NBSPCA officers give new ‘leash’ on life to 6 dogs

New Brunswick SPCA (NBSP­CA) Ani­mal Pro­tec­tion Offi­cers (APOs) received a com­plaint about a shed full of dogs cov­ered in feces on July 14, 2022, from the North­east­ern part of New Brunswick. The offi­cers did not find any­one at the house when they went to inves­ti­gate. How­ev­er, the knock­ing at the door alert­ed them to the sound of dogs bark­ing from a near­by shed on the prop­er­ty belong­ing to Robert Savoy.

The dilap­i­dat­ed shed was unfit to keep ani­mals and an over­whelm­ing odour of feces was com­ing from there. The offi­cers saw filthy dogs and pup­pies run­ning around on a floor com­plete­ly cov­ered with fecal mat­ter. After seek­ing assis­tance from RCMP, the Offi­cers entered the shed to seize the dogs. They found the floor cov­ered with approx­i­mate­ly 30 inch­es (76 cm) of feces with a strong smell of urine. The dogs had no access to water or a clean place to rest.

The dogs were saved and tak­en to a vet­eri­nar­i­an for exam­i­na­tion. All were found to have feces-mat­ted fur and red and irri­tat­ed paw pads, and a few were infest­ed with mul­ti­ple par­a­sites. The pup­pies had low mus­cle mass while the adult dogs had behav­iour prob­lems due to poor social­iza­tion. The ani­mals were placed in a pos­i­tive recov­ery environment. 

Robert Savoy plead­ed not guilty to the mul­ti­ple charges under the SPCA Act of New Brunswick and the Crim­i­nal Code at the Bathurst Provin­cial Court on Decem­ber 12, 2022. When his case was set for tri­al on June 30, 2023 he changed his plea on two counts – fail­ing to pro­vide med­ical care and for unsan­i­tary con­di­tions. The court fined him $1,200, placed him on pro­ba­tion for 2 years, gave him a Pro­hi­bi­tion Order from own­ing dogs for 15 years, and ordered him to pay NBSP­CA $3,000 in resti­tu­tion for the vet­eri­nary expens­es incurred. 

The NBSP­CA car­ries out its man­date by remov­ing ani­mals from unsafe sit­u­a­tions. If you hear of abuse, cru­el­ty, or neglect of ani­mals in your com­mu­ni­ty, please report it by call­ing our toll-free hot­line at 1−877−722−1522

About the 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 rec­om­mend court 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