REGINA – A judge has denied an appeal put forward by April Irving, challenging the sentence she received for abusing more than 80 dogs on her property near Foam Lake.
The case dates back to 2010, when dozens of dogs in distress were taken from Irving by the Saskatchewan SPCA.
In January 2015, the Alberta SPCA seized more than 200 dogs from her new residence near Milk River. Five dead dogs were also found on her property.
On Wednesday, Irving’s lawyer asked the judge to overturn the ten year ban she received on owning more than two animals at once in Saskatchewan. When it appeared the judge would not agree to that, Irving passed her lawyer a note, asking to have her $5,000 fine reduced.
The judge argued Irving lacked court transcripts from her original trial as evidence and dismissed the appeal, calling it useless.
“We’re really pleased this appeal has been denied,” said Frances Wach, executive director of the Saskatchewan SPCA. “This clearly indicates that the animals were in distress.
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The judge also told Irving she was lucky to have had a sympathetic trial judge that didn’t find her guilty of any criminal charges.
Crown Prosecutor, Barrie Stricker, said “When she was acquitted of the criminal charges that left her wide open to owning as many dogs as she wants in any other province in Canada.”
He added that might change now that even more charges have been brought forth in Alberta.
Stricker said the case “was about an individual that had too many dogs, and as a consequence of having too many dogs, was not capable of taking care of those animals. As a result, those animals suffered at the hands of Ms. Irving, whether she wanted them to or not.”
When asked whether he was surprised to hear Irving had once again accumulated a very large number of dogs in Alberta, Stricker replied “not at all.”
“When the SPCA put animals up for adoption, even during the course of the trial, she was busy acquiring some of those very same animals back, through third parties,” he said.
Irving’s lawyer prevented her from speaking to media, but as she walked away from the courthouse, she held up a stuffed dog over her shoulder.
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