The B.C. SPCA is recommending animal cruelty charges against the owner of a popular rescue business as allegations emerge of overcrowded conditions, dead reptiles, and a fungal infection outbreak.
Officials seized several reptiles from Mission-based The Reptile Guy Rescue and Education Centre, which puts animals on display and hosts children’s birthday parties, after a raid in December.
According to a search warrant application obtained by CTV News, the SPCA found inadequate quarantines, boa constrictors in tanks with mouldy feces, and emaciated bearded dragons, including one with four broken legs.
“If animals meet the definition of distress and the animal owner does not take steps to rectify this, or the distress is so serious, we can recommend charges, and that’s what we did in this particular case,” said Chief Prevention and Enforcement Officer Marcie Moriarty.
But Mike Hopcraft says he’s being targeted by officials who aren’t reptile experts and who wrongly believe he is exploiting the exotic animals he has on display.
“There are things in that package that are completely twisted around. Completely untrue. It’s really putting a damper on the rescue right now. This is a blow to us. We have a good reputation and we rely on having a good reputation. That’s why we’ve been doing what we’ve been doing for so long,” he said.
Hopcraft says he has a lawyer and plans to fight any charges – meanwhile, he says he is obeying SPCA orders to clean up.
The SPCA says it received an animal cruelty complaint from an ex-employee who provided photo evidence of animals in distress.
The search warrant application details a series of visits from the SPCA to The Reptile Guy in 2015, where investigators were routinely not let in.
“Full inspections were unable to be done as Hopcraft would kick B.C. SPCA employees out of his business,” the warrant said.
Officials returned with a search warrant, to find hundreds of animals in tanks and enclosures, some in unsanitary conditions, dead animals, underweight animals, animals without water, and animals in critical distress that needed to be euthanized, the warrant said.
Some enclosures were too small, had inappropriate lighting or heat, or had non-potable water, and no quarantine procedures were in place, the warrant said. In some tanks there were exposed wires.
The SPCA found a dead mountain horned dragon, which a vet suspected had been dead for 24 hours. “Crickets had eaten out the eyes,” the warrant said. The warrant also said nine out of 19 snakes with a fungal infection had died. The snake fungus was not native to B.C.
“My concern is and always has been that due to a lack of quarantine facilities and the number of individuals Hopcraft has going through his facility that this could be an entry point for snake fungus into B.C.,” one veterinarian wrote, according to the warrant.
Two bearded dragons were seized. Both were emaciated and one had four broken legs.
“When Hopcraft was informed the bearded dragons were going to be seized he kicked a chair across the office and was escorted outside by the RCMP,” the warrant says.
Hopcraft told CTV News that he kicked a chair because he got emotional.
“Yes I kicked a chair. When you are taking my animals away, taking my life’s work away, I’m going to get angry,” he said.
Animal activist David Isbister was part of a group that obtained the search warrant from an Abbotsford courthouse.
“I was appalled,” Isbister said. “It’s a laundry list of improper lighting, exposed wires, and a rampant fungal infection that threatens local ecology. It goes on and on.”
Moriarty says the SPCA recognizes that some animals may have been harmed before being brought to The Reptile Guy. But she says their officers are focusing on the care the animals received afterwards.
“We have recommended and will be recommending charges of animal cruelty. It’s up to the crown to decide if that will be proceeding,” said Marcie Moriarty.
In a conviction, animal cruelty charges can result in a ban on owning animals, a fine, and up to two years in jail.
