The Resort Municipality of Whistler is offering no updates to its decision not to take action on business licenses belonging to Outdoor Adventures Whistler Ltd. and Howling Dog Tours Whistler Inc.
The companies have been the focal points of widespread outrage since January 31, when it was reported that an employee of Howling Dog Tours, who was offering dog sled tours in the Whistler backcountry as a subcontractor to Outdoor Adventures, had allegedly killed up to 100 dogs.
Both businesses hold licenses to maintain office space in the Resort Municipality of Whistler but dog sled tours are not permitted within its boundaries. Those tours are operated in the boundaries of the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District.
This week Whistler council received a letter from Julia Trops, a Kelowna-based artist, expressing shock that Outdoor Adventures is still operating in Whistler. She requested that the municipality cancel its business license and asked whether the local government was "really okay with the damage to the reputation to this town and resort."
Asked about the letter, the Resort Municipality of Whistler's communications department sent Pique a letter that Mayor Ken Melamed penned on February 2 in the wake of the incident.
In it he states that the municipality is "shocked and saddened" by reports of sled dog deaths and that it has been getting many inquiries about revoking the licenses for Outdoor Adventures and Howling Dogs.
Melamed went on to say in the letter that the municipality is waiting on the results of an investigation being conducted by the SPCA with the assistance of the RCMP. The communications department offered no updates in this regard.
Meanwhile protests against the dog cull persist in communities throughout British Columbia. On Saturday about 40 people walked their dogs along the E and N Trail in Nanaimo to protest the killings. Much as was done in Whistler on the weekend of February 5, demonstrators circulated an animal rights petition to be presented to the House of Commons next month.
The petition asks the federal government to modernize animal cruelty provisions in the Criminal Code and has allegedly garnered thousands of signatures, according to a report in the Nanaimo Daily News .
