Trailer that held 119 dogs condemned, owner left without disposal options

FORT NELSON, B.C. – The trailer that had 119 dogs taken out of it earlier this month has been condemned, and its owner is having a hard time disposing of it.

Cory Spooner says the tenant paid on time every month, and the two were in regular contact.

“Last spring, there was a leak in a pipe under the trailer, and we had a plumber down there; everything seemed fine. Never had a complaint come towards me,” says Spooner.

When Spooner caught wind of the situation, he reached out to the tenant to find out what was going on.

“He goes, ‘every time we see a stray, we picked it up and put it in the trailer.”

On March 12th, members of the SPCA, RCMP, and Fort Nelson Fire Department were called to a trailer in the Fort Nelson area with 119 dogs inside. The dogs were moved to multiple different SPCA locations to alleviate the pressure on the organization.

According to Eileen Drever of the SPCA on March 23rd, the task of caring for the dogs is moving along, but there is still more work to be done.

“It’s obviously very time-consuming because there are so many dogs. We’re working with not just their physical ailments but their psychological ailments as well. They’re very fearful because they’ve been running together and probably not too used to people. They’re coming around, they’re doing well, but they’re not available for adoption just yet,” says Drever.

Spooner has been left with the task of having the trailer removed from the park, but he says the only help he’s getting is from the Fort Nelson Fire Department.

At this stage, Spooner does not have many options for what the next step is. He says the Fire Department has been in contact with government agencies looking at the possibility of funding the trailer’s demolition.

“I’m a single dad, raising a kid on my own. I don’t have money for this, so I’m waiting to hear from them. Hopefully, they can help me,” says Spooner.

Spooner wants the trailer gone out of respect for the other residents in the park.

“I don’t want that trailer sitting there, looking like an eyesore to people around there. It’s still my trailer, and I don’t want it to sit there and have people going around town asking, ‘why hasn’t he cleaned it up yet?’.”

Another issue Spooner has with the situation is that, as the trailer owner, he was never contacted by anyone investigating the dogs’ wellbeing.

“Whether it was the RCMP, animal control, whoever they contacted, nothing got back to me because they took [the tenants] word that they owned the trailer. They’re telling the RCMP and everybody, we own the trailer, and the RCMP says, ‘okay, have a nice day.”

While the RCMP and SPCA investigation is ongoing, Spooner says he is just happy the dogs are safe.

“I’m happy the dogs got to where they’re supposed to be, getting treated and all that stuff. I can’t really be too upset about the trailer when you look at the whole situation; I’ll get another one eventually.”

Spooner, a rescue dog owner himself, says there should be some enforcement against owning pets of any kind for this family.

“They don’t need to have any animals in their care whatsoever. I don’t care if it’s a goldfish, nope.”