PETITION TARGET: Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Chief, Office of Professional Standards
An injured deer lying stricken on a sidewalk was reportedly bludgeoned with the blunt end of an ax and left to suffer a slow and agonizing death by police officers in Ontario, Canada.
Video captured by a resident in the neighborhood appears to show two uniformed officers approaching the inert deer, who reportedly had been hit by a car. An officer then violently hits the deer with an ax with so much force that the weapon flies from his hands and sails across the residential street, according to the video.
Witnesses who spoke with news alleged that the deer suffered for more than an hour after the officers left before she finally died.
The Ontario Provincial Police’s Office of Professional Standards, which reviewed the video, said official policy authorizes use of a firearm for killing animals and that the officers’ use of the “side of an ax” was “disturbing.”
“This is not the way officers are trained or expected to deal with this scenario,” the agency said.
It is illegal to cause animals unnecessary pain and suffering, and the horrific alleged treatment of this distressed deer— bludgeoning her with blunt force and then leaving her, still conscious, to suffer — is undeniably animal cruelty.
But these officers’ alleged actions, in addition to being outside of the department’s approved protocol, also immediately put a community at risk.
The footage, clearly showing nearby houses and a public street, documents the ax spinning out of control and disappearing to an unknown destination outside of the video’s frame after passing by the second officer and traversing the width of the street.
Sign our petition urging the OPP and the Office of Professional Standards to treat this case with the severity it deserves, including disciplinary actions for the officers involved as well as a review of the department’s animal-related policies and a re-training of all officers.
