The B.C. man alleged to be responsible for the slaughter of 100 healthy sled dogs last year has made his first public statement, claiming that some of the dogs were "too old" or "sick."

Bob Fawcett, former general manager for Howling Dog Tours in Whistler, issued a joint statement with Outdoor Adventures Whistler Wednesday evening.

According to the agreed facts, Fawcett told OAW owner Joey Houssian in mid-April 2010 that he would be euthanizing 50 dogs.

"Mr. Fawcett advised Mr. Houssian that the dogs to be euthanized were ‘too old' or ‘sick' and ‘not adoptable.' These dogs live to ‘run' and were not able to do so and would have had to be kept in cages with the result that they would have had very poor or virtually no quality of life," the statement reads.

It goes on to say that "considerable efforts" were made to find new homes for the dogs, but "the efforts at adoption were not as successful as hoped."

The statement says that OAW did not give Fawcett any instructions as to how the dogs would be killed, but adds that "Mr. Fawcett was known to have very humanely euthanized dogs on previous occasions."

According to WorkSafe BC documents obtained this week, Fawcett shot and killed 100 dogs on April 21 and 23, burying their bodies in a mass grave.

RCMP and the SPCA are investigating, and numerous criminal charges are possible in connection to the slaughter. The B.C. government has also announced that a task force will prepare a detailed report on the cull.

OAW announced on Tuesday that it has suspended operations at Howling Dog Tours while the killings are under investigation.

Fawcett filed a WorkSafe BC claim for post-traumatic stress disorder developed as a result of the slaughter, saying that he has suffered panic attacks and has difficulty sleeping. He was granted compensation on appeal.

The decision granting that compensation contains gruesome details of the killing, including stories of dogs that survived shots to the head and others that were killed with a knife.

In internet postings on forums about post-traumatic stress disorder, a man calling himself Bob Fawcett alleged that he was "forced" to kill dozens of dogs.

"I was told the company was going to fold unless we took drastic action. The drastic action would be the immediate disposal of half the herd. There is no more money and the owners would only continue on if we did the reduction and went with a new business model, less dogs, less costs," the commenter alleges in a Jan. 6 post.

Outdoor Adventures Whistler told ctvbc.ca that it take "significant issue" with the statements that Fawcett appears to have made online and in his WorkSafe BC claim.

"It was our understanding that the dogs to be euthanized would be those that were sick or elderly," the company said in an email.

It says that it has made "significant" changes to the business to ensure the humane treatment of the animals.

Those changes include giving away 75 dogs, neutering males and creating an open-pen kennel rather than tethering the dogs. Guns are no longer allowed on site and the company's new policy is that euthanasia must be performed at a veterinary office.

The Municipality of Whistler says that it has stopped the sale of all OAW services on its tourism website and at the resort town's visitor centre.

But Mayor Ken Melamed says that it will not consider revoking the business's licence until it has more information from police.