Manitoba horse exporter found not guilty over alleged animal welfare violations

An animal welfare case involving a Manitoba horse exporter wrapped up in court Friday.

A live horse exporter based in Manitoba has been found not guilty of breaching federal animal welfare regulations, a judge has ruled.

The case relates to a Dec. 12, 2022, shipment arranged by Carolyle Farms, based in the Swan River region. The company planned to transport 79 horses from Winnipeg Richardson International Airport to Japan, where the animals were intended for slaughter and consumption as sashimi.

Complications arose when a snowstorm in Anchorage, Alaska—one of the planned stopovers—left the aircraft delayed on the tarmac for over four hours. The flight was later rerouted through Seattle, Washington, before continuing on to Japan.

During the February trial, court heard that the total travel time exceeded 30 hours—going beyond the federal maximum of 28 hours that horses can be transported without food, water, or rest.

The exporter was accused of breaching Canada’s Health of Animals Regulations, which requires a contingency plan to be filed with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) to prevent unnecessary animal suffering, injury, or death in the event of unforeseen delays.

Animal Justice, along with other animal advocacy agencies, originally filed a complaint with the CFIA. However, the federal agency declined to pursue enforcement action.

That decision prompted Animal Justice executive director Camille Labchuk to initiate a private prosecution—a rare legal process. The move involves a criminal charge being brought forward by a private individual, also called a private informant, rather than by police or government authorities.

Animal Justice’s legal team argued that the farm’s contingency plan, which was filed with the CFIA in September 2022, did not address potential risks beyond the airport.

Meanwhile, defence counsel Lindsay Mulholland said that the exporter was not responsible for contingency planning for the entire duration of the journey, arguing that the obligation lay with the shipping logistics company, the airline, and the purchaser.

Provincial Court Justice Sandra Chapman agreed and sided with the defence.

“It would place an unreasonable burden on the seller to come up with contingency plans or, moreover, have any control over any plan that would have been put in place once they put the horses on the air transport,” she said.

Chapman said each party in the transaction is required to have a contingency plan, adding that no regulator told Carolyle Farms that the plan was insufficient prior to transport.

“The parties which they handed the control of those horses to were federally regulated and therefore compliant with the act. If not, then the regulators, in my view, have the responsibility to shut the transport down.”

Chapman also pointed to “a lot of confusion” among regulators regarding what contingency plans should include and who is accountable for them.

“Hopefully there’s been some improvement over this confusion since this matter arose,” Chapman said.

Kaitlyn Mitchell, director of legal advocacy with Animal Justice, said the group is “incredibly disappointed” with the verdict.

“These horses are being sent from rural Canada all the way to quarantine facilities in Japan, and we need to make sure that the regulator is overseeing that entire journey,” she told CTV News outside the courtroom.

“I’m concerned that if we divide it up artificially, there’s basically no one who can monitor that entire journey… This case has always been about justice for the horses, and we didn’t see that today.”

Mitchell said the organization will consider appealing the decision in consultation with legal counsel.