Saving 120 animals from one farm

Farm ani­mal wel­fare is a crit­i­cal part of the New Brunswick SPCA’s (NBSP­CA) man­date. Ani­mal Pro­tec­tion Offi­cers are trained to rec­og­nize signs of ani­mal stress and inad­e­quate food and shel­ter for cat­tle, hors­es, sheep, goats, and oth­er agri­cul­tur­al animals.

“While most New Brunswick farm­ers work hard to ensure their ani­mals are prop­er­ly cared for, our Ani­mal Pro­tec­tion Offi­cers are autho­rized to inves­ti­gate instances of live­stock neglect or inad­e­quate care,” said Tony Porter, Chief Ani­mal Pro­tec­tion Offi­cer, New Brunswick SPCA.

In March 2021, the NBSP­CA received a com­plaint about dead sheep and rab­bits on a farm belong­ing to Moham­mad Islam locat­ed in Young’s Cove, New Brunswick. An Ani­mal Pro­tec­tion Offi­cer inves­ti­gat­ed the com­plaint and found 33 dead ani­mals on the farm along with 100 sheep, some goats, and rab­bits. The ani­mals’ con­di­tion and the barn envi­ron­ment prompt­ed a call for assis­tance from Provin­cial Vet­eri­nary Services. 

Vet­eri­nar­i­ans found the ani­mals were under­weight and fee­ble, and NBSP­CA offi­cers con­tin­ued their inves­ti­ga­tion. Over a peri­od of sev­er­al weeks, NBSPCA’s Ani­mal Pro­tec­tion Offi­cers worked with the own­er to improve con­di­tions on the farm and ani­mal health, includ­ing pro­vid­ing bet­ter access to food and water and call­ing for vet­eri­nary care for any sick animal. 

Moham­mad Islam appeared in Fred­er­ic­ton Provin­cial Court on Sept. 27, 2022, to plead guilty to two charges laid under the SPCA Act of New Brunswick, relat­ing to his fail­ure to pro­vide food, water, shel­ter, and med­ical care to the animals.

A provin­cial court judge sen­tenced Moham­mad Islam on Jan­u­ary 17, 2023, to two years pro­ba­tion with con­di­tions, restrict­ing the farm to a max­i­mum of 120 ani­mals and pro­vid­ing NBSP­CA Ani­mal Pro­tec­tion Offi­cers the author­i­ty to make unan­nounced vis­its to ascer­tain ani­mals’ well-being.

New Brunswick res­i­dents can help pro­tect against ani­mal neglect and give defense­less ani­mals a voice. If you wit­ness ani­mal cru­el­ty or neglect, call the New Brunswick SPCA ²⁴⁄₇ hot­line at 1−877−722−1522.

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