Yellowknife (Feb 02/05) - The recent dog slaughter is now a police matter.

Police announced Tuesday they were re-opening their investigation into the slaughter of six sled dogs, who were shot in the face last month and dumped near a sewage lagoon outside Yellowknife.

"We do not take something like this lightly," said RCMP Insp. Roch Fortin. "If there is any evidence to show there was cruelty, charges will be laid."

The move is a reversal for police who announced last week the circumstances surrounding the slaughter did not support cruelty charges.

"The disposal is not a criminal matter," read a police release issued Friday.

The decision was panned by animal rights advocates, who said the dogs were not killed humanely.

"It was an absolutely horrific way for these animals to die," said Dr. Kim Elkin of the Great Slave Animal Hospital.

Elkin performed an autopsy on the dogs in mid-January after a city cleanup crew discovered their frozen corpses near Fiddler's Lagoon, about eight kilometres from downtown Yellowknife.

The dogs had been shot in the face at close range. Several had twine around their necks, which Elkin said was probably used to hold them in place while they were executed.

Several died either from asphyxiation or blood loss and one animal in particular probably lived for several minutes after a bullet tore through its lower jaw and snout, Elkin said.

"That is cruelty, beyond a doubt," said Janet Pacey, president of the NWT Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. "It is not something we should stand for."

Guidelines from the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association say the only humane place to shoot a dog is in the back of the head, near the base of the brain.

The bullet would immediately render the animal unconscious, said Elkin.

While the federal criminal code prohibits cruelty to animals, justice officials have to prove owners intended to harm their pets - a task Fortin said can be difficult.

"It is very hard to prove intent in court," said Fortin. The maximum penalty is six months in jail, though offenders are rarely incarcerated.

Pacey described current territorial animal cruelty legislation as outdated and said her group would push for stiffer penalties.

"It is antiquated," she said. "We are not living in the 1940s, '50s or '60s."

She believes there is still a prevailing attitude in the North that dogs are "tools" and said the territories' laws concerning cruelty - which include a maximum of a $25 fine and 30 days in jail - need to be strengthened.

Fortin said police will work with the SPCA to educate the public on the best way to dispose of their dogs. "We want to avoid this kind of thing happening again.

"This is not the way we want to make national news," said Fortin.

"We want to find the owner and talk with them," Fortin said. "We are not going to leave any stone unturned."