Stock photo of cattle. (Photo 49883403 © Pat Smith - Dreamstime.com) : Glynn Brothen

By Alice McFarlane

Animal Welfare

Seized animals might not be returned to owner

Mar 8, 2019 | 10:39 AM

It will depend on changes the owner made to their property which will determine whether or not seized cattle will be returned to the farm.

Animal health officials removed 131 head of cattle from a farm north of Lampman when the animals were found to be in poor condition. Officers also found 16 dead cows.

The executive director with Animal Protection Services of Saskatchewan said certain conditions need to be met before the animals will be returned to their owner.

Don Ferguson said livestock must always have access to adequate feed and water.

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“We can’t take them off the property and then just simply return them back to the same conditions which would lead to their distress simply because the owner can pay costs,” Ferguson said.

The animals were seized after a search warrant was executed on the property.

“We always take a registered veterinarian with us. They do an assessment based on the Animal Protection Act and what the definition of distress is. It’s then determined the animals cannot stay in that location without being provided the necessities. We are required to take them into protective custody to relieve their distress. That`s what occurred,” Ferguson said.

Animal Protection Services are required to give the owner five business days to pay the costs associated with the seizure and rectify the conditions on the property.

“We can’t return animals to the owner just because they pay costs. They also have to rectify what caused the distress in the first place,” Ferguson said. “We have had an increased number of calls. We’ve worked with a number of producers to rectify those situations and sometimes it’s just a matter of making sure they`re not in a negative energy balance and having the producers get their feed tested, supporting that and we’ve done that on a number of occasions.”

This is the second major seizure of cattle in southeast Saskatchewan in the past month. In February, 319 cattle were found to be in distress near Stoughton and seized

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alice.mcfarlane@jpbg.ca