The Vancouver Park Board is investigating the Langley man who adopted former petting zoo goats, after they were allegedly auctioned off.

Trevor French has a Langley hobby farm, and in January last year, he adopted a number of dwarf goats and some sheep from the Stanley Park farm as it was closing down.

Now the Park Board is trying to determine if he sold the goats at a local auction house. If French did, it would have been a violation of his adoption agreement with the Park Board.

"I was very distressed to learn of the alleged mistreatment of several goats and sheep adopted out to a local farm," Park Board chair Constance Barnes said in a statement released on the weekend.

The adoption took place in January 2011.

In mid-February the same year, French approached Frase Valley Auctions with a small herd of goats for sale.

Ken Pearson, the owner and auctioneer, remembered that French came in at a relatively slow time of the year for goats. He sold some in February, was back a couple of times in March, and a final time in April with some pygmy-cross goats like the ones from Stanley Park. French was back most recently in September with a different type of goats.

Some of the female goats may have been purchased for breeding purposes, but it is likely that the males were bought for meat, Pearson said.

While people do buy pet goats at Fraser Valley Auctions, they usually buy young animals they can raise up, he said, not full-grown adults.

Pearson recalled that French did not seem knowledgeable about goats, referring to wethers (castrated male goats) as billy goats (breeding males).

He didn't recall having met French before he came in last year.

No one at Fraser Valley auctions was aware that there might be a contract banning French from selling any of his goats, Pearson said.

While the Vancouver Park Board said it didn't want to send its animals to farms that sold animals for meat, French has apparently been running a fresh-meat dog food business.

An ad he posted less than a week ago on Craigslist offers raw lamb, chicken, or beef for pet food.

"When you want the best for your pet. Buy direct from the farm," the ad reads.

The ad offers meat in 40 to 50 pound lots for $3-$4 a pound.

The Langley Advance contacted French about the matter, but he immediately hung up.

French had earlier told the Vancouver Sun that he had sold the animals to friends, or that he gave them to people who answered a flyer he posted at a local feed store.

Speaking to the Sun, he denied selling the animals either at Fraser Valley Auctions or directly for meat.

Barnes has directed Vancouver civic lawyers to take legal action over the matter.

mclaxton@langleyadvance.com