posted February 01, 2011 03:30 PM            

The SPCA is launching an investigation following a report that a dogsled tour company in Whistler, B.C., ordered the killing of 100 dogs when bookings slumped after the Olympic Games in Vancouver.

Vancouver radio station CKNW reported that documents it obtained from WorkSafeBC, the agency that monitors compliance with the occupational health and safety regulation in the province, show an employee of Outdoor Adventures Whistler was granted compensation after developing post-traumatic stress disorder for allegedly being forced to kill the dogs.

The radio station reports the dogs were either shot or had their throats slashed before being buried in a mass grave.

"It wasn't always a clean, one-shot kill," lawyer Corey Steinberg, who is representing the employee, told CKNW. "Inevitably, he ended up seeing and having to put the end to some horrific scenes."

Outdoor Adventures Whistler has not contested the WorkSafe injury claim, according to CKNW, which has not been able to elicit a comment on the case from the company.

Marcy Moriarty, head of cruelty investigations at the B.C. SPCA, told CKNW her organization is launching an investigation.