Vancouver:
One hundred dogs were shot dead over two days, after an expected post-Olympics boost in dogsledding business at a Canadian adventure company didn't pan out.
Most died instantly, but others suffered, with one running away badly injured before being killed.
The gruesome event was described in documents awarding compensation to a worker at Outdoor Adventures Whistler, who claimed post-traumatic stress disorder for having to shoot the dogs after bookings dropped sharply for a tour operator following the 2010 Winter Olympics.
"He's shot a dog in the head, half of his (the dog's) head's missing, and the dog's running around still alive," said Marcie Moriarty, general manager of cruelty investigations for the British Columbia Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA).
Moriarty added that all the other dogs would have seen the incident in which the one dog did not die instantly from the single gunshot to the head and ran away from the worker.
Both the British Columbia SPCA and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are now investigating the slaughter.
An employee of Outdoor Adventures Whistler was awarded compensation in a ruling by WorkSafe BC, the provincial body that manages workers' compensation claims.
Outdoor Adventures did not contest the man's compensation claims.
The WorkSafe documents are confidential, but Moriarty has read them as part of the society's investigation. Moriarty said it is likely the individual who will be facing charges and not the company.
Tourism Whistler has suspended reservations for the company while the investigation unfolds, a spokeswoman said.
The WorkSafe documents were obtained by radio station CKNW, who reported that the man was attacked at least twice by nearby dogs as the shootings occurred. He was forced to slit the throat of one animal who jumped on top of him.
The name of the man who killed the dogs has not been released, but his lawyer, Cory Steinberg, told CKNW that it was "the worst experience (the man) could ever have imagined."
The documents reveal bookings for dog sled tours collapsed after the Olympics, and when the company could not find homes for its animals, it ordered the cull. The dogs, which were part of a pack of 300, were shot over two days last April.
Graham Aldcroft, a spokesman for the company, said Outdoor Adventures had a financial stake in a company called Howling Dogs in Whistler for four years, but operational control of Howling Dogs was with the worker referred to in the WorkSafe B.C. documents.
"It's also critical that people are aware that Outdoor Adventures did not instruct the General Manager in a way that has previously been described in the media," Aldcroft said in the statement.
Outdoor Adventures took over control of Howling Dogs in May, Aldcroft said.
He said it is now company policy that animals needing to be euthanised are treated at a veterinarian's office.
Rich Bittner, the operator of Howling Dogs in Canmore, Alberta, said he sold his 50 percent interest in the Whistler operation in 2004 to a man named Bob Fawcett.
He said the Whistler tour operator was supposed to change the name because Howling Dogs was no longer involved.
An online site offering support to people suffering post-traumatic stress disorder includes several postings made under the name of Bob Fawcett.
It could not be immediately determined if these postings were made by the man who bought the dogsled tour company in 2004.
Dogsled tour operators in the tight-knit mushing community in British Columbia expressed outrage over the killings.
Several operators said they routinely adopt dogs from other companies, but were not asked to take any from Whistler in early 2010.
Following revelations of the slaughter, the Vancouver Humane Society on Monday called for a ban on the sled-dog tour business.