Animal control officers have seized the last remaining goat adopted by a Langley hobby farm from the now-defunct Stanley Park Petting Zoo, following reports the animals were being sent for slaughter.
The Vancouver Park Board has been investigating allegations that the farmer, who adopted 17 goats and four sheep, started selling the dwarf and pygmy goats for meat at a local animal auction shortly after they arrived last year.
The goats were among a variety of animals, including cows, pigs, donkeys and birds, given to 13 local farms from the petting zoo when it folded in 2011 under a $3-million budget shortfall.
The park board's animal adoption contract stipulated that the new owner "will not sell, trade, loan or give away these animals… nor have them destroyed except on the advice of the SPCA".
On Monday, Tryka was the only goat from her herd found on the Langley farm belonging to Trevor French.
Park staff said they cannot confirm what happened to the other animals but Ken Pearson, owner of Fraser Valley Auction, confirmed that French sold 15 goats between February and September last year. He added that he believed at least half came from the zoo.
French refused to talk to CTV news on Monday. However, he previously denied selling the goats for meat but admitted he got rid of the "nasty and violent" animals.
"Mr. French has been very cooperative today and voluntarily gave up a tri-coloured goat," said park board general manager Malcolm Bromley. "We are taking Tryka to a caring environment and we will assess where she goes on a long term basis."
Tryka went back to Stanley Park where workers also discovered that she is pregnant. The park board is also taking on responsibility for the safety of her kids.
Esther Klein of the Animal Defence League of Canada said the case is "extremely disturbing".
"There's no middle ground. I hope that it is true that there is a signed contract, and if indeed there is then there must be prosecution of the hobby farm [if it] broke the clauses they accepted," Klein said.
Bromley said he's never seen a case like this one, and his staff are very disappointed.
"The SPCA has said that our due dilligence was second to none," said Bromley. "We followed very stringent, thorough practice to check everybody out -- we had letters of reference from veterinarians, from work and we inspected the sites."
The park board will follow-up with the dozen other adopting families to see if any other petting zoo creatures were mistreated.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Julia Foy
