'We did our very best': owner of closed pet cemetery, crematorium

The owner of a pet cemetery and crematorium in Manitobasays she has become the victim of a "witch hunt" as outraged pet ownersvent their anger over conditions at her business.

Gail Harrison spoke to CBC News days after it was revealed the province ordered Domestic Animal Cremation and Misty Gardens Pet Cemetery, near La Salle, Man.,closed over filthy conditions andthe handling ofanimal carcasses.

Public reaction has been so strong to the story that Harrison said she no longer feels safe, having received "death threats" and threatson her home.

"So much terrible things have happened out there that are not our responsibility," she said Monday."It's kind of like a witch hunt. It's a done deal. It appears that it wouldn't matter what I said at this point.

"After 22 years of integrity service, I don't deny for the last three months, we've definitely had problems."

Harrison said those problems were beyond her control. She said that because of wet ground, the incinerator started acting up.She also lost customers, which created financial problems, and began having problems with staffing and vandalism.

'The fallout is horrendous'

Two pet owners looking for information on the remains of their animals' bodies were shocked at conditions at the facility when they visited with CBC last week.

They found freezers containing dead animals, barrels of what appeared to be bone and ashes, a huge tub of stinking, rust-coloured liquid, and an open shed full of containers marked "biohazard" and packed full of syringes.

"When the [incinerator] malfunctioned, it made a mess, and I'm not denying that," Harrison said.

"We attempted to clean it ourselves to no avail, so we've been waiting and waiting, because the restoration people are very busy, and it takes time for them to get out and clean it for us, because we can't do it ourselves. We've tried."

The syringes were collected from veterinarians as a service, Harrison said, and the company disposed of them properly at a landfill once a year.

One woman who visited the site was shocked to find the body of her dog in a plastic garbage bag on a countertop in the building. The dog died in February and the woman was awaiting burial services.

Harrison said the dog's body was being thawed in preparation for burial when its owner found it.

"I'm a very good groomer of deceased animals, but you need to have them out for at least two days, and then I bathe them and cut their nails but you just can't do that on a frozen animal."

The procedure is standard and the dog would have ended up looking "very, very nice," Harrison said.

"We did our very best," she said."We're guilty of being slow. We're guilty of having hard luck for three weeks.The fallout is horrendous."