Langley vet guilty of animal cruelty
Posted March 28, 2012 4:11 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
LANGLEY (NEWS1130) – A Langley veterinarian has been found guilty of animal cruelty for using an emaciated horse to pull a car out of a ditch.
In December, 2008, the BCSPCA cruelty investigators were called after a seven-year-old gelding was tethered to Mark Marohn’s sedan. The horse was exhausted, unable to stand and was found to be in critical distress.
“Any case of animal cruelty is obviously troubling,” explains Marcy Moriarty, General Manager of Cruelty Investigations for the BCSPCA. “You’d think that people should know better.”
“But in this case, I think he most certainly had, I think, an increased duty as a veterinarian. This person has sworn an oath to assist animals,” she adds.
The horse had to be humanely euthanized at the scene.
That same day BCSPCA found five more horses on Marohn’s property and took them into their care. The horses were also emaciated, and despite round-the-clock treatment, one of the rescued horses died four days later. The four other horses were adopted in May 2009.
Moriarty says Marohn deserves a strong sentence, in part because of his education and background as a veterinarian. “He’s clearly shown that he is not responsible, and I most certainly do not think that he should be practicing veterinary medicine.”
Marohn could face a sentence of five years in jail, along with a maximum fine of $5,000, and a prohibition from owning animals.
Sentencing in this case could come as early as May.
