Former dog sled company manager Robert Fawcett last week pleaded guilty to a charge of causing unnecessary pain and suffering to dozens of sled dogs near Whistler more than two years ago.
Fawcett, who entered his plea on Thursday (Aug. 30) in North Vancouver Provincial Court, will be sentenced on Nov. 22 for shooting and slitting the throats of the dogs and then dumping them in a mass grave in April 2010.
Gruesome details of the killings were leaked in January 2011 after Fawcett made a WorkSafe B.C. claim for post-traumatic stress disorder.
As a result, B.C. SPCA investigated and found 54 dogs in the mass grave near the resort. The SPCA provided its findings to the Crown, which laid the charges against Fawcett in April 2012.
"We hope this plea results in swift and appropriate justice in this very disturbing case," Marcie Moriarty, general manager of cruelty investigations for the B.C. SPCA, said in a statement.
Fawcett faces up to five years in jail, a fine of up to $75,000 and may be banned from owning animals.
