Press Release of Ty’s Exotics — June 20, 2017 Meghan Grant CBC Calgary Kevin Martin ie ‘Sun and Calgary Herald (Post Media) Lisa Macgregor Global News This is a press release approved by Tyler Marshall, principal of Ty's Exotics, in response to the statements made by the Alberta SPCA as stated in the news article of June 20, 2017 titled "Man charged after massive animal seizure applies to start dog- breeding facility in Alberta" as published by Global News at htto://alobalnews.ca/news/3542435/man-charged-after-200-animals-seized-applies-to- start-dog-breeding-facility-in-alberta/ (the “Article"). The Article contains numerous omissions by the Alberta SPCA. This statement is provided to clarify the record in the public domain. The issues arising in this matter began in April of 2017. Mr. Marshall sold a Toy Maltese dog to Sgt. Luis Gandolfi (Sgt. Gandoffi) of the Royal Canada Mount Police (RCMP). The dog was about 9 weeks of age and had its first set of vaccines, which is the regular practice, as vaccines are provided at 7-8 weeks of age. The dog was delivered to Sgt. Gandolfi April 13, 2017. That evening, the dog became ill. On April 14, 2017 the dog was taken to a veterinarian, diagnosed with Canine Parvovirus, and treated for the same. Canine Parvovirus is’ highly contagious disease that can kill dogs. Gandolfi contacted Mr. Marshall about the diagnosis on April 14, 2017. Given the smaill span of time between the sale of the dog to Sgt. Gandolfi, Mr. Marshall, in good faith, paid the entirety of the veterinarian bill that day in the amount of $1600.00 voluntarily. ‘The dog sold to Sgt. Gandolfi was a part of a litter of three (3) that were shipped to him from Ontario. The litter stayed with Mr. Marshall at his personal residence in Vulcan County, Alberta at a separate farm, until they were all sold. Atno time at all did the litter, attend or come near Mr. Marshall's facility near Vulcan, Alberta that is now subject of various court proceedings. Mr. Marshall contacted the other two people who purchased the other two dogs from the litter and advised them of the Canine Parvovirus concern. To Mr. Marshall's knowledge, none of the two dogs ever came down with Canine Parvovirus.On April 17, 2017 Sgt. Gandotfi made a complaint to a Peace Officer of the Alberta ‘SPCA in Okotoks, Alberta in relation to the Canine Parvovirus contracted by the dog he Purchased from Mr. Marshall. Due to that complaint, Peace Officer Richard Wheatley (PO Wheatley) began an investigation. PO Wheatley and Mr. Marshall have known one another since 2012 and had each other's cell phone numbers on April 17, 2017. At no time between the dates of April 17, 2017 through to and including April 19, 2017 did PO Wheatley contact Mr. Marshall despite PO Wheatley being aware that Mr. Marshall was a in the dog breeding and sales business, there was a concem of Canine Parvovirus in relation to him, and he was aware Canine Parvovirus is highly contagious. On April 20, 2017 PO Wheatley accompanied with another peace officer and a veterinarian, attended Mr. Marshall's kennel facility in the area of Vulcan, Alberta without notice. PO. Wheatley has been to this facility previously and at no time had he ever expressed any concem. ‘The property that the facility is upon is owned by Mr. Marshal's parents and they have a home adjacent to it. Mr. Marshall was asked to come to the facility by PO Wheatley through his parents and he did so. PO Wheatley advised Mr. Marshall that his visit was to perform an inspection of animals housed at the facility. PO Wheatley told Mr. Marshall that he got a complaint from ‘someone Bonnyville, Alberta. Mr. Marshall was not aware that Sgt. Gandoffi lived in Bonnyville, Alberta nor, at the time on April; 20, 2017, that Sgt. Gandolfi was the complainant. Beyond being advised by PO Wheatley that the complainant was from Bonnyville, Alberta, at no time did PO Wheatley advise Mr. Marshall of any other reason for their inspection. At no time was Mr. Marshall made aware that PO Wheatley and his colleagues were inspecting the facility for Canine Parvovirus concems, nor did they ask Mr. Marshall about the origins and history of the dog he sold to Sgt. Gandoffi. During the Inspection, Wheatley and his colleagues inspected the facilities and animals. Upon completion of the Inspection, Mr. Marshall, his wife, and two of their employees, inquired if there were any concerns or recommendations arising from the Inspection with respect to improvements to be made. Wheatley and his colleagues responded in the negative, specifically that they had no immediate concems or recommendations. Wheatley stated that he would meet with Mr. Marshall later in order to discuss any recommendations that he may have going forward. PO Wheatley and his colleagues then lef On April 20, 2017 after the inspection, Mr. Marshall sent texts messages to PO Wheatley requesting his schedule for a potential meeting about any concems arising from his visit. PO Wheatey, in sum, responded that he was busy and would get back to him. Mr, Marshall specifically asked PO Wheatley, verbatim: [Please let me know if there's anything | need to do. 1 don’t want to cause troubles and want what is best for the animals.Mr. Marshall continued to text PO Wheatley and got no meaningful response. Due to being concemed, Mr. Marshall on his own accord without being asked, retained a veterinarian to inspect his facility. ‘The Animal Protection Act, which is the law that govems the welfare of animals and give the Alberta SPCA powers of enforcing it, only enables the Alberta ASPA to take a Person's animals, which are considered are property at law, if they do owner does not “forthwith take steps that will relieve [the animat's] distress”. In accordance with his obligations and duets under the Animal Protection Act generally, because PO Wheatley would not tell Mr. Marshall about any concerns, Mr. Marshall had his own assessment done by a veterinarian given he had no idea what the complaint was giving rise to the Alberta SPCA's attendance. The veterinarian did an assessment on April 22, 2017 and in a report provided to Mr. Marshall advised of three recommendations and concluded the animals were well cared for overall Atno time between April 20, 2017 and April 24, 2017 did the Alberta SPCA advise Mr. Marshall of any concems they had at this facility despite having specific forms titled “Alberta SPCA Waming Notifications” to do so to outline concems that must be remedied. (On April 24, 2017 at about 8:30AM without any notice to Mr. Marshall, PO Wheatley arrived with’ numerous peace officers and veterinarians at Mr. Marshall's facility. Mr. Marshall was told that the Alberta SPCA was there to assess his animals, and that they would take the ones in “distress”. After the Alberta SPCA had inspected about for approximately two and a half hours, PO Wheatly advised Mr. Marshall that the vets had only been able to assess 9 dogs in that time, that they didn't want to be there all day, ‘and that they were taking the bulk of his animals. At that time the Alberta SPCA took the animals they did. Wheatly did not charge Mr. Marshall with any offence on April 24, 2017 under the Animal Protection Act or any other law. Upon the dogs coming into the care of the Alberta SPCA, they were placed initially at the Calgary Humane Society and the Alberta Animal Rescue Society. Through media reports, Mr. Marshall was made aware that two of his puppies, who while at his property tested negative for Canine Parvovirus, had now contracted it while in the care of the Alberta SPCA and were put down. In the apprehension, the Alberta SPCA caused the death of a litter of rabbits by taking their mother away from them. That multiple of baby rabbits died as a result of their actions and not three. Additionally, three were found by myself the following day and | delivered them to the SPCA in an attempt to reintroduce them to their mom. Mr. Marshall attempted to deal with the Alberta SPCA to get his animals retumed himself. Unsuccessful, he retained legal counsel who began to demand the return of the animals on April 25, 2017 and a legal action would be taken if they were not retumed.Specifically, the Alberta SPCA was advised that they had no jurisdiction to hold the animals without Mr. Marshall having committed an offense, and thereafter, would stil have to apply to the Court of Queen’s Bench for an Order to retain the animals pending the disposition of the charge. After Mr. Marshall had threated to take legal action against them, the Alberta SPCA on April 28, 2017 laid charges against Mr. Marshall. The Alberta SPCA however still did not apply for custody of the animals pending the charge, nor have they ever done so. The initial position that the Alberta SPCA took was that they could dispose of animals, sell them etc. without any form of court hearing in their own sole discretion once the animals were apprehended. It was position of Mr. Marshall that the Alberta Bill of Rights entitled him to a hearing before the animals, being property, could be permanently taken from him. It must be noted that the Animal Protection Act also applies to livestock generally. On May 19, 2017 Mr. Marshall fled a civil action against the Alberta SPCA, almost a full month after failed attempts at settlement. At that time, Mr. Marshall also filed an application for an injunction preventing the animals being disposed of by the Alberta SPCA and for their return. The Alberta SPCA that same day filed an application, not for custody of the animals under the Animal Protection Act as that Act contemplates, but to sell and dispose of those animals or be reimbursed for expenses. Eventually, Mr. Marshall and the Alberta SPCA entered into a consent order permitting a third-party veterinarian to do an assessment of the facility who would decide how many animals Mr. Marshall could have. Note, the Animal Protection Act does not provide for such a process, but Counsel for the Alberfa SPCA and Mr. Marshall working in good faith derived it by using the Arbitration Act so that the matter of the return of the animals could be settled between the parties by an independent veterinarian, at the sole expense of Mr. Marshall. That order also provided that Mr. Marshall will reimburse the Alberta SPCA within 30 days of proof of payment for the costs of food, water, care and shelter for any of his animals. Sinoe the order was entered into, no proof of expense has been provided to Mr. Marshall in the form of a receipt, invoice etc. Further, in the civil proceedings PO Wheatley swore an affidavit that it was costing the Alberta ASPCA $4000.00 per day to care for the apprehended animals. When asked for a break-down of costs and proof of the expenses incurred under oath, through counsel for the Alberta ASPCA, PO Wheatley refused to provide them. At no time since the animals have been apprehended has the Alberta SPCA provided Mr. Marshall proof of any expenses incurred. The Article states that costs of $300,000.00 have been incurred by the but Mr. Marshall has not been providing anything proving such expenses, and it was brought to Mr. Marshall's attention on June 19, 2017 that his animals have been put into foster care homes, without his knowledge or consent, which are voluntary organization. Further, many of the services that the Alberta SPCA and their related societies provide are also voluntary.With respect to the application of Mr. Marshall to have a kennel license from Vulcan County, Mr. Marshall had permission from the County of Vulcan going back to 2012 to have a high volume of animals with no limit at the facility. This permission was given before the County of Vulcan had a bylaw put in place to deal with limits on dogs being kept on the property. After the civil action were filed by Mr. Marshall to get his animals back, the Alberta SPCA began looking at municipal bylaws outside the Animal Protection Act they operated under, in what Mr. Marshall believed to be an effort to thwart him getting his animals back. Due to the fact that Mr. Marshall had previous permission, the Municipal Planning Commission of Vulcan County unanimously passed a motion to not take any enforcement action against him within the 40 days under the bylaw, but insisted he make a kennel application, which he has done so and is pending. Therefore, Mr. Marshall is still operating his facility and business. The Article states that the Calgary Humane Society, an organization operating in the City of Calgary, intends to oppose his application to continue his business. This is despite there being an independent vet doing an assessment on the facility; Vulcan is not even in a municipality that the Calgary Humane Society operates, and Mr. Marshall's operation being more akin to a livestock operation on a farm. Mr. Marshall requests that the residents of Vulcan County's support in the application, In summary, Mr. Marshall has been diligent in his efforts to abide by the Animal Protection Act and work collaboratively to resolve this dispute with the Alberta SPCA. It is very unfortunate how this matter began, given it could have simply been avoided had the Alberta SPCA simply outlined remedial steps they felt he should take on April 20, 2017. Mr. Marshall will contest the charges against him in Lethbridge vigorously if they continue. The matters outlined above are all part of a public court record accessible by anyone by way of ordering pleadings and materials from the court. The two court numbers are 1701-06758 and 1701-06786. Mr. Marshall is hopeful that as soon as possible he wants to complete the process under the consent order with the third party veterinarian, complete his application with Vulcan County and resolve the outstanding charges against him. Should there any be further question, please contact Mr. Marshall's legal counsel Brendan Myers Miller. Principal of Ty's Exotics June 20, 2017