Clearwater man Kurtis Elliot got a 12-month conditional sentence after BC SPCA seized more than a dozen starved dogs from his property.

Image Credit: FACEBOOK/Kurtis Elliot

A Clearwater man was handed a 12-month conditional sentence after BC SPCA seized more than a dozen emaciated dogs from his property in 2023.

The agency called the scene "horrific" after the thin mastiffs were seized from Kurtis Leo Gordon Elliot's property in January 2023.

He pleaded guilty to animal neglect and he was later sentenced in Clearwater provincial court, where he was handed several conditions. One restricts his ability to own pets.

For ten years, Elliot can't own his own pet, but there are some exceptions. One is that he's allowed to keep his goldfish and his cat, Sativa. After five years, the conditions are loosened to a limit of two dogs, so long as they're spayed or neutered.

BC SPCA can also inspect his home without notice at any time during the day.

His other conditions are similar to probation, including mandatory check-ins with a sentence supervisor. But, if he breaches any conditions, he risks spending the rest of the sentence behind bars.

In 2023, BC SPCA said the animals were being bred for profit during the COVID-19 pandemic. Seven were 10-week-old puppies and eight others were under the age of three at the time of the seizure.

“Some of the dogs were kept outside all day in sub-zero temperatures, with no shelter from the elements, no food and water bowls frozen over,” spokesperson Eileen Drever said in a news release at the time. “The pens had compact snow and ice and no dry place for them to lay down – I don’t how much longer these poor dogs would have lasted.”

Many were thin with protruding bones and there was evidence two had eaten parts of a blanket, the SPCA said.

'Blue' was the most emaciated of the dogs and was the only one euthanized as of February 2023.

Image Credit: B.C. SPCA

One of the adult dogs was so starved it couldn't recover and was later put down.

Elliot spoke with iNFOnews.ca shortly after. He claimed the dogs were being fed and they were outside only hours at a time.

He also said he got death threats after BC SPCA announced the seizure.

Separate from the provincial court ruling, he tried and failed to appeal the seizure of some of the dogs just weeks after they were taken.

The Farm Industry Review Board, however, had no faith Elliot was remorseful for the state of the dogs nor in his ability to care for them if returned.

All the dogs, including the four he sought to be returned, were expected to go up for adoption once recovered, according to the tribunal's 2023 decision.

BC SPCA did not immediately respond to an inquiry about the dogs' recovery.

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