Raided ranch’s owner disputes police claims
Setting down a cup of coffee on the kitchen table, he sits and stares out the window.
One of four men who rent rooms in a large home on Fritz Brokop’s sprawling ranch in a rural patch of southwest Calgary, he can’t help but laugh at the events of the past few days.
“It’s been crazy,” he said, shaking his head with a weary smile. “It’s really been crazy.” Tuesday morning started like most others, said the man, whom Postmedia agreed not to identify.
Brewing some coffee and getting ready to feed his pet dog, Tilly, his first indication of trouble was seeing the Calgary police tactical unit’s armoured vehicle roll up outside his kitchen window a little after 8 a.m.
He would later learn it was a joint animal-neglect investigation by the Calgary Humane Society (CHS) and police, which resulted in the seizure of 40 animals, and charges of improperly stored firearms and breaching of a court order for his landlord, Brokop.
As of Wednesday, no animalrelated charges have been laid by CHS officers.
“I opened the door to 15 or so assault rifles pointed at me,” the tenant said, thoughts of an upcoming job interview evaporating from his mind.
Ordered to show his hands and walk toward the officers, he described being handcuffed and made to stand for 15 minutes on the snowy ground in his socks.
Once brought inside, he said police questioned him and one of his housemates about his knowledge of firearms stored on the property.
Still handcuffed, he was then driven in a marked police vehicle to the Somerset-Bridlewood CTrain station, where he claims he was uncuffed in front of a group of about 50 commuters and sent on his way.
Denied the opportunity to grab either his wallet or a fresh change of clothes, he stood on the LRT platform wondering where he was going to sleep that night, or how to handle his impending job interview. “It was humiliating,” he said. A longtime resident of Calgary’s inner-city, his decision to rent a room at Brokop’s ranch late last year represented a much-needed change of scenery.
“When the opportunity came to move onto an acreage with wildlife and livestock, it seemed like a grand opportunity,” he said. “I rented it before I even saw it.”
He said eight people lived on the property: four in the northern house, Brokop and a roommate in the southern house, and two others living in camping trailers scattered around the property.
“It’s so unorthodox and strange, I’ve given it the nickname ‘The Town,’ ” he said of life on Brokop’s ranch, disputing officials who described the property as “disgusting.”
Leading Postmedia on a tour of the bright, two-storey home on the north end of the property, he conceded the home was clearly a residence occupied by avid outdoorsmen.
A corkboard by the front door overflows with photographs of his housemates grinning at the camera while posing with hunting trophies and boast-worthy fishing catches.
The freezer is full of wrapped and labelled cuts of meat from recent hunting trips — all conducted in-season with the proper tags, he said.
There was more before Tuesday, Brokop said, alleging Fish and Wildlife officers confiscated quantities of game meat and fresh sausage.
Large windows in both the kitchen and living room look out at treed pastures framing snowcapped mountains, interspersed with framed game prints and, next to a polished snooker table and dartboard, a wall decorated with a mounted set of deer antlers.
Occupied by four working men, the home certainly hadn’t been dusted in a few weeks, but was far from the picture of squalor described by officials.
Outside, the property’s roads are lined with rusting machinery, old farm equipment, dozens of trailers, vehicles and outbuildings — a common sight on many Alberta farms, he said.
Not everything on the land belongs to Brokop, he said.
A number of people — including Calgary police officers, he claims — pay to store trailers, vehicles and other items on the land.
Brokop disputes the firearm charges, saying he’s permitted to display his rifles inside his own home.
Both he and his tenants question the need for Tuesday’s large police presence, which consisted of 40 officers and representatives from CPS, CHS, Fish and Wildlife, Tsuut’ina police, Calgary fire, public health, Alberta Environment and Parks, Environment Canada, and Alberta Agriculture and Forestry.
While life on his ranch may not be one many city folk would be accustomed to, Brokop said it’s far from the dilapidated squalor alleged by officials.
“In the 31 years that I’ve been a police officer, I’ve never seen such a disgusting and dirty environment in which to live — as humans and also to raise animals,” Staff Sgt. Guy Baker said during Wednesday’s news conference at the Calgary Humane Society. Brokop begs to differ. “I’m a farmer — I’ve got machinery, swathers, tractors, horse trailers,” Brokop said, laughing in spite of himself.
“I live out in the country, what else am I supposed to do?”
When the opportunity came to move onto an acreage with wildlife and livestock, it seemed like a grand opportunity. I rented it before I even saw it.