BC

Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Robert Fawcett, accused of killing 56 sled dogs after the 2010 Olympics, leaves B.C. Provincial Court after pleading guilty to a charge of causing unnecessary pain and suffering to animals on Thursday. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

A man charged with the slaughter of more than 50 sled dogs near Whistler, has pleaded guilty to an animal cruelty charge two years after the bodies were dug up from a mass grave near the ski resort town.

Former sled dog operator Robert Fawcett, who showed up sporting a short haircut and wearing a mismatched brown suit, entered his plea while standing next to his lawyer in a North Vancouver court Thursday.

He was charged with causing unnecessary pain and suffering to the animals.

Outside the courthouse, about a dozen animal-rights advocates accompanied by their pet dogs called for a prison sentence for Fawcett.

"If it's going to be a slap on the wrist, we are nowhere more forward than we were yesterday," said Ingrid Katzberg, referring to a possible sentence.

"It has to be something that is going to tell other people you are going to be punished if you continuously do this to animals."

Fifty-six dogs were dug up in a mass grave in May 2011 after details of the cull leaked out four months earlier.

The information came from a post-traumatic stress disorder claim made by Fawcett, the former general manager of Whistler-based Howling Dog Tours, through workers' compensation.

The claim suggested the dogs were killed to cull the sled-dog pack after a post-Winter Olympic slump in tour sales. The companies that employed the man, however, have denied such instructions.

Fawcett is expected to be sentenced on Nov. 22.

The SPCA says a memorial for the slain sled dogs is planned for Nov. 2.