Solicitor General John van Dongen's farm searched by B.C. SPCA

van Dongen's family has history with B.C. SPCA
Katie Mercer, The Province

Published: Thursday, September 25, 2008

The SPCA executed a warrant Wednesday at a Delta farm owned by Solicitor General John van Dongen, according to a media report.

The officers were at the farm off Highway 10 early Wednesday after receiving a complaint about several neglected cats.

Delta police said the building in question is leased to tenants and the investigation is not related to the van Dongen family.

Van Dongen's father, Quirinus van Dongen, was charged with two counts of having animals in distress, after 44 horses, 63 dairy cattle and a cat seized in April 2003 over lack of shelter and access to clean water.

He was investigated again in May 2003 after a dog he was temporarily housing was hit by a car.

The Agricultural Minister's father was also involved in an issue in August 1996 when his two-year-old horse was found with a crushed nose, a severely wounded eye and maggots in huge open wounds on her legs.

She was believed to have become entangled in farm machinery.

He was also charged with animal neglect in the 1980s.

The Agricultural Minister's uncle John van Dongen Sr. had three horses seized in March 2005.

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