A 72-year-old man from Wolfville, N.S., is facing a long list of animal-cruelty charges after the Nova Scotia SPCA seized a total of 22 dogs from a Kings County property this week.
The SPCA says they received a complaint in October regarding several dogs on a property in Wolfville that were not receiving proper care, and that their owner may be running a puppy mill.
SPCA officers attended and say they found some violations, but they worked with the owner to try and gain compliance.
The SPCA says they received a new complaint in December and conducted an inspection, and one dog with medical issues was seized as a result. They also ordered the owner to bring the conditions up to standards.
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Then on Jan. 10, SPCA officers returned to the property to check on the dogs. That ended up with the seizure of a second dog, but the owner refused to let the officers further into the residence.
Five days later, a search warrant was executed by SPCA officers and a total of 20 dogs were seized. They remain in the custody of the SPCA.
As a result, Brian Merrill Levy has been charged with causing animals to be in distress, failing to ensure that an animal had an adequate source of water, failing to provide adequate medical attention when an animal was wounded or ill, failing to provide an animal with reasonable protection from injurious cold, interfering and obstructing a person exercising powers, and failing to comply with direction.
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Levy will be arraigned in Kentville provincial court on March 12.
“This has been an exhausting case for the investigators with a total of 22 dogs seized. Our staff have been working very hard caring and socializing the dogs and we are now able to place them for adoption as soon as they have been all spayed and neutered,” said SPCA chief provincial inspector Jo-Anne Landsburg in a statement.
“We are very pleased with the board’s decision to award custody of all dogs to the SPCA.”
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