SURREY — The owner of a Surrey, B.C., animal talent agency and a rescue shelter is under investigation for animal cruelty.
The BCSPCA and the provincial Ministry of Environment are looking into the operation of a shelter run by a non-profit called Urban Safari, located in South Surrey.
Urban Safari is the brainchild of Gary Oliver who also owns Cinemazoo, a company that provides animals for television and movie productions.
BCSPCA spokeswoman Lorie Chortyk confirmed there is an investigation but did not elaborate, citing legal reasons.
Most of the animals kept at the refuge are exotics, animals brought to Urban Safari by owners who no longer want them. It’s the fate of some of those exotics that appear to be at the heart of the investigation.
Cinemazoo and the refuge moved in August from their former location in Whalley to South Surrey.
“I had some caimans. We had a cold spell (in October) and our furnace broke down and they got cold and they died.” Oliver said he bought electric heaters to try to keep the caimans warm, but it wasn’t enough.
Oliver also said he’s being accused of cruelty for taping the alligators’ mouths shut for about a week during and after the move. He said the alligator pool wasn’t finished when the time came to move and he had to work in the same enclosure with the gators.
“I was working in there. I taped their mouths so I wouldn’t get . . . chomped,” he said.
” The SPCA doesn’t understand that gators stop eating when they’re moved. It’s a thing with all crocodilians. I’ve seen some go seven months without eating.”
B.C. law won’t allow him to adopt dangerous alien species to anyone in this province, Oliver said, so that option wasn’t open to him either. He said a shelter in Drumheller, Alberta, has agreed to take his alligators and snakes at the end of this month.
Oliver said there was so much to get done before the move and too little time, help and money to make it all happen.
“I got in a situation where I was overwhelmed in this move. Holy mackerel, I was doing everything I could and now they’re trying to discredit me. It wasn’t cruelty.”
Oliver said he’s getting things under control now. He’s been able to hire more staff and moving the gators and snakes to Alberta will help. He’s worried the investigation, no matter how it turns out, will ruin his reputation.
“The SPCA, they forget I rescued these animals . . . If it wasn’t for me, they’d all be dead.”