Mcbride horse story more complicated than it seems

The saga involving two horses abandoned in the wilderness outside McBride in mid-September is far from over. Superficially, this story has pitted Edmonton lawyer Frank Mackay, who left his horses to fend for themselves, against animal lovers everywhere, but the tale is far from simple.  

Mackay sojourned out in early September to resupply friend Karen Hage, who was hiking the Great Divide Trail. According to Mackay, Hage is a veterinarian and she and her husband raise standard-bred race horses.

The two abandoned horses were bound for the slaughterhouse, had Mackay not purchased them for $300 from Hage. So, the effort to resupply Hage was a way to return the favour of selling him the horses, he said.  

In an interview with Mackay Saturday, he was unrepentant and said he firmly believed he did everything he could, both in terms of the abandonment and rescue. “I did everything humanly possible,” he said. “I don’t feel badly about everything that happened.”  

When the horses were left in mid-September, Mackay said he notified the RCMP, but not the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA). Though the RCMP and the SPCA share information, it would be unusual for the RCMP to notify the SPCA of an animal abandonment such as this one, said Shawn Eccles, chief animal protection officer with the BC SPCA.  

“So you report the animals that they’ve been abandoned in the Rocky Mountains. Are they tied up somewhere or are they running loose?” said Eccles. “Quite frankly, to report that you’ve left your animals is one thing, to not let us know where they are is completely another.”  

Mackay had nothing good to say about the SPCA. Debbie Godine, of the SPCA in Prince George, contacted him “several weeks ago” and asked him to sign the horses over to them. “I told her to f--- off, that it was none of her business,” he said.

The Fitzhugh visited Mackay’s farm just southwest of Edmonton Saturday, where he said he spends his weekends. The nine horses at the farm all appeared to be in good shape. Mackay said he still has the first horse he ever purchased some 19 years ago, and does not care in the slightest what the public thinks about him or how he cares for his horses. 

“I don’t give a f--- about the public,” he said, adding that he thinks people “want to pre-judge everybody. My friends and family who know me, know how I look after my horses, support me and I’m satisfied with every single effort and judgement I made, so f--- the rest of ‘em.”  

Mackay made a couple unsuccessful attempts to rescue the horses, he said. The final attempt was in December when he was notified by a client that the client’s stepson and two others had located the horses in the bush while out test-riding new snowmobiles.   

A few days later, Mackay headed out with the men to rescue the horses. Even though he decided the horses could not be rescued, Mackay fed the horses and poured Gatorade down their throats, “hoping they would perk up a bit,” adding it was difficult to get the food and Gatorade up the mountain to begin with, so they didn’t want to take it back down with them.  

Though he is an avid hunter and owns a hunting camp outside Hinton, Mackay didn’t have anything with which to kill the horses so he said goodbye to them and decided to “let nature take its course.”

When asked why he didn’t hire a hunter-trapper to go out and kill the horses, Mackay became visibly annoyed, saying, “I’m a f---ing hunter-trapper.  Who the f--- am I going to hire?  Am I going to stand in the middle of McBride, a stranger from Alberta and say ‘Hi, I lost my f---ing horses, can you come and dig them out for me?’ What the f--- is going to happen? ‘F--- you Charlie Brown, you’re on your own’.”

Mackay’s explanation doesn’t sit well with some of the horses’ rescuers, a group of people from McBride. Matt Elliott, who helped dig and ferry people on snowmobile up to the site where the horses were stuck, said he believes Mackay’s efforts were “not very satisfactory.” Although Elliot noted that he’s not a horse person.

Mackay said he was unable to assist in the rescue operation because on his way back to Edmonton after saying his goodbyes, he sustained a head injury in a car accident. Although the RCMP would not confirm the details and Mackay had no paperwork from the accident, he did bear a large gash on the top of his head. 

Though opinions on Mackay and his actions are divided, even among the group of rescuers, the volunteers put their personal views aside and worked together to get the horses out, said Dave Jeck, who helped with the dig.

There is sympathy out there for Mackay. Based on the news he’s watched, Jeck said he thinks Mackay “has been demonized by the media and he’s been demonized by the public.  I mean, there was maybe mistakes made and he tried to get them out,” said Jeck.  “He made his attempts, maybe they would not have been what you would have done, or I would have done or anything, but I don’t really feel that there’s any real wrong on his side.”

Jeck said he has been out there and knows what it’s like. “When a horse quits going, they quit going.” But Jeck also added that “Mackay didn’t realize how difficult this country is with horses, you can’t just go anywhere and he got in the wrong spot and his two pack horses just quit. He couldn’t make them go.”  

Leaving animals, such as horses, in the wilderness is not uncommon, said Eccles, from the SPCA. “I have heard that there are some guide outfitters who that’s what they do, that’s their standard business practice, but it’s something that the BC SPCA is vehemently opposed to.”  

Mackay expects to have his horses returned to him, but it’s unlikely. Eccles said Mackay will face charges “under both the criminal code and/or the provincial cruelty to animals act.” The horses, which are now in possession of the SPCA, “seem to be resting comfortably and doing well,” Eccles said.

The way the BC Provincial Cruelty to Animals Act reads, said Eccles, is that “we’re obligated to notify the owner that we have the horses and it is our intent to dispose of them, which means simply try and find them another home.” The BC SPCA has received a number of emails from people offering to take the horses in.

If the SPCA determines that they are not going to return the horses to Mackay, his only option would be “to go to court and have a judge overturn that decision,” said Eccles.

Mackay, who said he’s invested somewhere around $30,000 into these two horses, will see how far he’s prepared to take his fight given that at some point, “you have to make a business decision.”