Dog abuse charge against Alberta man dropped

The Crown has withdrawn a charge against a Chestermere-area man accused of abusing his dogs.

Tom Piotr Bilski, 27, faced one charge of causing unnecessary suffering to animals. He wasn't in the Strathmore courtroom Tuesday morning when the charge was withdrawn.

Reached on his property in the Chestermere area east of Calgary, Bilski said that although he was glad his ordeal was over, it was time-consuming and expensive to prove his innocence.

"It is a really stupid situation what happened," he said. "I knew I was going to have this case covered, no problem, that I was going to win this case, no problem, but it sucks how the justice system works."

His two dogs — a bearded collie and a Labrador chow mix —  were seized in March following a tip to police.

At the time, Bilski said it was a misunderstanding. He told CBC News he was afraid for the dogs' safety when he couldn't get them to stop chasing some coyotes, so he tied their leashes to his all-terrain vehicle and drove with the dogs running behind.

Bilski got his dogs — named Biggie and Asia — back a month ago and said they are "so happy." He said he doesn't regret his actions and would run his dogs behind his all-terrian vehicle again if necessary.

"I think they [learned] a lesson out of all this too, not to run off and play with the coyotes."