An activist from Calgary managed to find out the date of Gustafson's first court appearance, to hear the charges that have been laid against him. Gustafson was not in court and was represented by his lawyer. He has plead not guilty.
Quote:Criminal CODE - CC 444 A killing cattle
Injuring or endangering cattle
444. Every one who wilfully
(a) kills, maims, wounds, poisons or injures cattle
is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years.
ANIMAL PROTECTION - AP 2 (1)
Prohibition against causing distress
2 (1) No person shall cause or permit an animal of which the person is the owner or the person in charge to be or to continue to be in distress.
There will be a preliminary inquiry on the criminal code matter at Court of Queen's Bench in Drumheller on December 5, 2007. Trial date will be June 4, 2008.
The judge expressed a sense of urgency due to the seriousness of the charges, and requested a quicker trial date. Defence replied that the offenses occurred almost a year ago and it took six months to lay the charges. It will take time to prepare as expert witnesses will be used on both sides and a prosecutor from Calgary will be used.
Update:
Lynn Gustafsons appeare in court as planned on June 4th, 2008. According to the main witness, a volunteer at the zoo, on the day the incident occured, someone came to the zoo to drop off an injured, but alive, goat. The volunteer later saw the goat, still alive, in the lion enclosure later in the day.
Lynn Gustafson maintains that although the goat was fed to the lions, he took it behind a shed and shot it prior to placing it in the cage. The case was not dropped, but stayed due to lack of evidence.
It's dissapointing but not unexpected...it's also irritating, because the ASPCA or Fish and Wildlife could go to Guzoo on any given day and make a case against them with the Alberta Zoo Standards that would easily be won in court.
