Investigation into mass death of cattle near Chaplin continues

It’s been a long, sad week for the pasture patrons at Shamrock Grazing Ltd.

“There’s been a lot of emotion, at times frustration, at times madness, but in general just sadness and stuff like that ... initially we didn’t know what to think,” said Glenn Straub, president of Shamrock Grazing Ltd.

Last Friday, the staff at Shamrock Grazing Ltd., a community pasture south of Chaplin, was shocked to find about 200 cattle dead in one of the fields. Collin Sauder, a board member of Shamrock Grazing Ltd., said following the discovery, the appropriate people were contacted.

“We’ve actually been told by the powers that be that we’ve taken all the right steps, including getting instructions for proper disposal,” he said.

As of late Wednesday morning, the pasture shareholders were still on site cleaning up. There were about 240 other cow-calf pairs in the field at the time of the discovery, which were moved to another field. According to Straub, the cattle are recovering well.

“In my opinion, for what they’ve went through they’re beginning to look very, very well. The veterinarians have told us that they feel we’re about close to over the critical stages,” he said.

The investigation is ongoing. On Monday, Dr. Betty Althouse, chief veterinary officer with the province, said preliminary results indicated dehydration related to concentrated salts in the water, which comes from a dugout, appeared to be at fault.

Animal Protection Services of Saskatchewan (APSS), which is investigating the incident, said Wednesday it is currently gathering information and waiting for water test results.

“There’s going to have to be some significant discussion about this case as to whether what happened was preventable or if it was a neglect situation whether or not charges are appropriate in the case. But that’s going to be something that takes some time to determine,” said Kaley Pugh, executive director of APSS.

Pugh said the investigation could take several months. There is a six-month limitation of action, which means charges must be laid by then if determined necessary.

The 23,700-acre pasture run by Shamrock Grazing Ltd. was a former PFRA pasture. Last year, the community patron group took over control of it. There are 1,500 head of cattle kept in the pasture, which has 33 shareholders — eight of which had cattle die in the incident.

The cattle were moved into the field where the incident occurred on July 1. The next day, they were checked on. Staff then followed the regular schedule for checking cattle in all of the fields, with the affected field being checked again Friday.

“(The staff has) got a system of going through the pastures, so you can’t physically be in every field every day. They had grass, they had water, myself I would have thought they were OK,” Straub said.

Pugh said this is a unique case and she can’t recall APSS investigating cases involving water quality previously. APPS has investigated cases where there wasn’t an adequate water supply for livestock.

We’ve actually been told by the powers that be that we’ve taken all the right steps.