Dead horses found at landfill ‘shocks’ Calgary woman

WARNING: This post contains graphic content that may disturb some people, discretion is advised.

A Calgary woman has questions for the city after bringing a load of garbage to a city landfill on the weekend, only to find three dead horses in plain sight at the site.

Marianna Lamouraux said Monday she was taking garbage to the main dump at the East Calgary Landfill on 17 Avenue S.E. between about 10 a.m. and noon on Saturday when she made the unsettling discovery.

“As I was backing up my truck into my allotted area, I noticed a leg in my rear-view mirror and when I got fully backed up to where I was going, I stopped and there were three dead horses there,” she said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "As I was backing up my truck into my allotted area, I noticed a leg in my rear-view mirror and when I got fully backed up to where I was going, I stopped and there were three dead horses there," she said.

“I was shocked. I was glad the great-grandchildren weren’t with me because they’ve been raised with livestock and they know to respect them.

“In all my years of hauling garbage, I have never ever, ever, ever seen anything like this before.”

Lamouraux said she understood there were policies against disposing of livestock at dumps or landfills, but was informed by on-site staff that policy had changed.

According to the City of Calgary, livestock and other large animals can be disposed of at landfills if a pit is dug, in which the animal is then placed and immediately buried.

In this instance, the city admits the heavy equipment was being used somewhere else on the site, so the proper process wasn’t followed.

“We’ve taken horses and other carcasses for years,” City of Calgary spokesperson Rick Anweiler said Monday.

“We are obviously very cautious of ensuring that none of our customers can see it, and unfortunately in this instance they were thrown on the ground and put there before we could put any equipment in place.

“I would like to sincerely apologize for this, and it’s unfortunate that we had any customers see that.”

Lamouraux said she understands peoples’ issues with other methods of disposing of livestock — such as cremation or processing — and that some people choose to bury animals at landfills.

She said would like to see an established area at landfills for livestock disposal that’s cordoned off with no public or industrial access — something the city said it’s looking into.

“For me, this particular incident was totally wrong. It was inhumane. We owe animals that have served us well much more than this,” she said.