Lower Mainland dog walker Emma Paulsen was sentenced today to six months in jail and has been given a 10-year ban on owning animals and a lifetime ban on caring for other people’s pets.

Paulsen was charged with animal cruelty following a BC SPCA investigation last May. On May 13, 2014 Paulsen reported that six dogs in her care had been stolen from her truck at a Langley park while she made a brief stop to use a washroom. The story sparked a community search for the missing animals, but Paulsen later admitted that the dogs had died after she left them in her hot vehicle while shopping and that she had disposed of the bodies in a ditch in the Fraser Valley.

“There were a multitude of aggravating factors in this case that I believe led to this precedent-setting sentence,” says BC SPCA chief prevention and enforcement officer Marcie Moriarty.

“While nothing can bring back the dogs to these owners, I do think that this sentence sends a strong message for people who take on the responsibility of looking after other people’s animals.”

She says Paulsen’s sentence is one of the highest ever handed down under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.

 

 

The British Columbia Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is a not-for-profit organization reliant on public donations. Our mission is to protect and enhance the quality of life for domestic, farm and wild animals in B.C.