CONVICTED: Was justice served?
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Case #6448 Rating: 3.0 out of 5
6 dogs seized - owner banned for life from animals
Saint John, NB (CA)Incident Date: Sunday, Jul 31, 2005
Disposition: Convicted
Defendant/Suspect: Charlene Smith
A Saint John woman who sat on the board of the Alaskan Malamute Club of Canada has been banned for life from owning pets.
On December 7, 2005, Charlene Smith pleaded guilty in Saint John Provincial Court to a charge laid under the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act that she failed to provide food, water, shelter and care in accordance with the regulations. She was also fined $400, just short of the maximum of $500 under the act.
"This is the first time that someone has been banned for life in the province," said Mark LeBlanc, an animal protection officer with the New Brunswick SPCA, following the court appearance.
Ms. Smith, who was a member of the Alaskan Malamute Club of Canada for the past five years and sat on its board of directors, said she no longer has any animals and never wanted to go through this again. However, when Provincial Court Judge William McCarroll banned her for life she began to weep.
In August 2005, the SPCA went to her home in Saint John's South End because of complaints from neighbours about a strong smell of ammonia and feces coming from the property. They seized six dogs. "They found floors saturated with urine and fecal matter," said prosecutor Patrick Wilbur. Although there was a small fenced in yard it appeared the dogs were seldom allowed outside. The problem had becomes so severe that the smells from the house were wafting through the neighbourhood. It looked like she had been shoveling the feces into the basement, said Mr. LeBlanc.
Floors throughout the three-level house were covered in some places with up to 10 centimetres of feces and there was mould growing on the walls.
Ms. Smith's elderly mother, who was also living there with the animals, was relocated by the Department of Family and Community Services. The SPCA has decided it will use the courts more often from now on, said Mr. LeBlanc Wednesday. "In the past we tried the educational approach, letting people know what they were doing was wrong and giving them time to make changes," he said. However the society has come to the conclusion that people were only making temporary changes and found that conditions tended to deteriorate again.
Laying the charges against Ms. Smith was part of the new stricter efforts and Mr. LeBlanc said he was pleased with the results. The animals removed from the home last summer were all returned to the breeders they had come from - as far away as Ontario and Alberta. "The animals were actually co-owned by the breeders and Ms. Smith," said Mr. LeBlanc.
The dogs were in good health when seized and one had been in a show about two weeks earlier. Before each show Ms. Smith would take them to a professional groomer and have them cleaned up, he said. References- NB Telegraph-Journal - December 8, 2005
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