Baa, Baa, Dead Sheep

By Marc Lostracco

If were anywhere near Jarvis and Dundas today, you were probably wondering if you’ve ever smelled anything so horrible, but one thing was certain: it was the smell of death.
Late this morning, the Toronto Police Service were summoned to 276 George Street, just east of Jarvis, to investigate an intense smell of rot coming from an abandoned rooming house. What they discovered were more than a hundred dead sheep.
Trying to make sense of the mystery, the cops turned to Frank Mancini, the owner of the property where the carcasses were discovered, who was skinning carcasses when they arrived and dumping them in the back of a truck. He claims that he’s in the waste disposal industry and was attempting to dispose of the deadstock.
“We had a problem finding a place to dump them,” Mancini told the media. “Finally, we found an area to dump them and that’s what we were in the process of doing.”
51 Division wasn’t necessarily buying it. They claim that the carcasses were part of an operation on the top floor of the house where the hides were being stripped—for what reason, they aren’t sure. Mancini was arrested and charged with criminal mischief, among other charges. The Star reports that the charges have been suspended, though the incident still faces investigations by the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Ministry of Agriculture to consider violations of the Dead Animal Disposal Act.
The property owner was apparently allowed to continue removing the remains. Residents can consider themselves somewhat lucky: that horrible stench ocurred in sub-zero weather. Imagine what a hot summer day would have been like.
Original image by Karen Whaley in the Torontoist Flickr Pool.