Southern Alberta woman pleads guilty to causing distress to animals

The charges, under Sec. 2 (1) of the Animal Protection Act will not carry any jail time, but rather fines or certain prohibitions.

Irving arrived at Lethbridge Provincial Court Wednesday, July 24, and sat with her lawyer Bjoren Wolkmann, as Crown Prosecutor Tyler Raymond read from an agreed statement of facts.

On the first count relating to an incident on Dec. 18, 2014, Irving took an animal to a veterinary clinic in Lethbridge County, and identified herself as Cheryl Wilson from Vulcan. She attempted to surrender a dog that required attention for a vaginal prolapse. The dog was underweight and unhealthy. Staff looked at the dog and determined it was severely underweight and malnourished. The dog was euthanized a short time later.

On the second, third and fourth counts, Raymond told the court that sometime between Tuesday Dec. 9, 2014 and Tuesday Dec. 23, a peace officer attended a property in Milk River to check on some animals. The officer saw 40-50 dogs, all on chains and all living in conditions with insufficient food, water and shelter. Irving was advised of the “immediate need to improve the living conditions for all of the dogs, and to seek veterinary attention for some of the dogs that displayed clear signs of distress.”

On Dec. 16, she agreed to surrender 60 dogs of 106 that she believed to be in her care at the time. According to the Agreed Statement of Facts, the 60 dogs were kept in a “typical junkyard,” with pallets, barrels, bales of hay, old cars and a few dog houses. The dogs were fed fresh meat and game, but little commercial dog meat was available. Most water buckets were also empty.

According to veterinarian, Dr. Todd Griffiths with the Foothills Veterinary Clinic in Cardston, most of the dogs were in moderate to extreme distress as a result of lack of nourishment, dehydration, lack of access to appropriate shelter and access to veterinary care. Many were emaciated.

On Jan. 13, another 140 living dogs and five deceased dogs were seized from the property where Irving was living in a 5th wheel trailer. The following are some of the conditions the dogs lived in:

· Most of the dogs that were alive were tethered to chains between 3 ft and 6 ft long in pairs

· Some were tethered near wooden shelters that were snow-drifted and inaccessible

· Several dogs were tethered near a vehicle and would go underneath it for shelter

· Several dogs had no access to shelter

· One pen had an adult female on a 3ft chain and 10 puppies from different litters with her

· A van with six juvenile puppies was poorly ventilated; the floor covered in a thick layer of feces and frozen urine

· Inside Irving’s trailer were a mixture of adult females and puppies. The trailer was filthy, with debris, hair, urine and feces

· Outside of the trailer was a pile of miscellaneous items and the bodies of several newborn dead dogs whose carcasses were frozen solid.

· Another dog was found dead on top of Irving’s TV in her trailer

· Only one of 140 dogs had access to food

· There was no evidence of, or access to clean drinking water

According to Dr. Griffiths, several dogs also had wounds on their legs from the chains, others had wounds on their bodies, and one dog that had recently had its leg amputated was chained outside with the incision open and bleeding.

Outside of the courthouse, Raymond told reporters that the Irving case was extraordinary its depth and length.

“Today April Irving plead guilty to four charges pursuant to Sec. 2 sub 1 of the Animal Protection Act. The Crown is satisfied that she has accepted responsibility for what was one of the most comprehensive and voluminous cases of animal distress in this country’s history.”

Sentencing, he said, is scheduled to take place Sept. 30 in Lethbridge Provincial Court in front of Judge Derek Redman.

“Unfortunately, despite the fact that we were able to agree to the facts and to circumstances with respect to these offences, we were not able to agree – the Crown and Defense – on a joint submission with respect to sentence. We anticipate differentiating on those positions on Sept. 30.”

Irving, wearing a mop and pink kerchief on her head, long dress and black shirt – left the courthouse carrying a large cardboard sign with husky and wolf-like pictures of dogs pasted to it. When asked about her guilty pleas or about her dogs she said, “I loved them. I loved them, I loved them, I loved them.”

In March, Irving also pleaded guilty to one count of failing to appear, stemming from a 2016 charge. She was sentenced to 30 days which have already been served.

At the time of the offenses, Irving had one prior conviction on her record for a contravention of the Animal Protection Act in Saskatchewan. As a result of that conviction, she was ordered not to have custody of or control of any more than two dogs or two of any other animal for a period of 10 years in that province. The order was made by Judge J. Plemel June 27, 2013.

(Lethbridge News Now)

by Lara Fominoff

Southern Alberta woman pleads guilty to causing distress to animals

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