A 59-year-old man from Alberta’s Wheatland County is facing charges related to animal welfare and selling uninspected meat after RCMP discovered an unlicensed cattle processing facility.
Police received a tip in November about a man slaughtering sick and injured cattle, selling uninspected meat and unlawfully disposing of dead animals.
Following an investigation, police obtained evidence the man was causing unnecessary suffering to the cattle by not adequately feeding or caring for them as well as documenting sales of meat that contravened provincial meat inspection regulations.
Members of the RCMP’s Livestock Investigation Unit as well as Alberta Agriculture and Canadian Food Inspection Agency officials witnessed employees at the site actively slaughtering cattle when they entered the property Feb. 21.
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Peter Wiebe was arrested at the scene.
Recovered from the site were a total of 36 dead calves, more than 100 tags and other portions of different cows.
Wiebe has been charged with causing unnecessary suffering to animals, permitting animals to be in distress, unlawful disposal of dead cattle, selling meat without a licence and selling uninspected meat.
He was released from custody with his next court appearance set for March 24 at Drumheller Provincial Court.
Contact alex.mccuaig@producer.com
