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A Caledon man faces animal cruelty charges after being caught on a remote news camera while drowning a raccoon in Lake Ontario.

The entire scene was caught on video Wednesday morning by a Global News remote camera stationed at the water’s edge in an entertainment complex located in the east end of the city. The camera operator witnessed a man submerging the raccoon, still caged in a catch-and-release trap, for several minutes. Using a cable attached to the cage, the man lowered the trap into deep water beside a dock breakwall. The video footage then shows the man dumping the apparently dead body into the lake and hurrying from the scene.

Global News contacted the Toronto Humane Society cruelty investigations unit with the video. Lead investigator Tre Smith reviewed the footage and recognized the area as a section of a popular nightclub and concert venue known as The Docks, located off Cherry St. Smith then moved the investigation to the scene.

Staff at The Docks immediately recognized the man in the video as an employee of an adjacent business. Once questioned, the man revealed that he believed the raccoon had hurt itself while trapped in the normally humane cage, and that he drowned the animal to put out of its misery.

Under the OSPCA Act, the THS has police powers to lay charges in relations to animal cruelty and animal welfare issues

The THS is currently preparing charges and will release the name of the individual as soon as those charges are formally presented.

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