'The smell of death': Saskatoon rendering plant apologizes for pile of pigs left outside
This story contains an image some readers may find troubling.
A Saskatoon rendering plant is apologizing for a pile of pigs that were left outside its business on Monday.
West Coast Reduction, based in Vancouver, recycles food waste and by-products from farmers and restaurants.
The pigs left outside the Miner's Avenue rendering plant weren’t fit for slaughter, according to Ken Ingram, West Coast Reduction’s director of technical and environmental services.
Ingram said leaving animals outside the plant is not normal practice.
“We’ve spent all morning thinking, ‘How does this happen?’ That is not how we do business,” Ingram told CTV News.
“For anybody who's seen it, we apologize. We're set on making sure that doesn't happen again.”
Matt Grazier, the city’s director of community standards, said he is aware of the “disturbing images related to the handling and storage of animal carcasses.”
Grazier said the issue has been referred to the Canada Food Inspection Agency and Public Health for review.
A pile of pigs was left outside of West Coast Reduction in Saskatoon in late November. (Kelly Singer/CTV News)
Mike Halvorson, the manager of TC Industrial Tire, located just a few steps away from the plant, said he could smell the pigs.
“It’s the smell of death. It’s the smell of rotting animals. It’s so putrid that your eyes water,” Halvorson said.
Halvorson said the odour from West Coast Reduction has been an ongoing issue.
Some days, especially in the summer, he said he can’t stand in the parking lot for longer than five minutes.
Halvorson recalled a few years ago, an air-conditioning technician on the roof passed out from the smell.
He succumbed to the odour on the roof, which was shocking to us that it was that bad up there. So we got ahold of our (city) councillor … we really got nowhere,” Halvorson said.
West Coast Reduction said it's received 11 smell complaints this year.
“We do our best. We have equipment on-site and processes in place to manage odour,” Ingram said.
Ingram said the pigs were cleaned up on Tuesday.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
BREAKING New York appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction from landmark #MeToo trial
New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.
Residents of northern Alberta First Nation told to shelter in place
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Monthly earnings rise, payroll employment falls: jobs report
The number of vacant jobs in Canada increased in February, while monthly payroll employment decreased in food services, manufacturing, and retail trade, among other sectors.
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.
Metro Vancouver mayors call for serial killer Robert Pickton to be denied parole
A dozen mayors from around Metro Vancouver say federal Attorney General and Justice Minister Arif Virani should deny parole for notorious B.C. serial killer Robert Pickton, and reassess the parole and sentencing system for 'prolific offenders and mass murderers.'