Accused dog hoarder April Irving says SPCA broke agreement with her

April Irving, the woman accused of hoarding more than 200 dogs on a property where she lives in Milk River, Alta., says she was trying to find homes for many of her dogs before the Alberta SPCA seized them in mid-January.

The 55-year-old has nowfiled a lawsuit againstthe organizationto get her dogs back.

• April Dawn Irving, accused Alberta dog hoarder, has history of animal neglect
• 201 dogs rescued from acreage near Milk River, Alta.

Officials saythe dogs were emaciated, dirty with matted fur, dehydrated and suffering.Some had broken bones or open wounds infested with parasites, and many still require medical attention. Two of them died.

Irving told CBC Newsshe realized she needed to find homes for her dogs, and that she called many rescue organizations such as the Alberta Animal Rescue Crews Societyand the SPCA looking for help.

"I didn't want all of them, that's why I surrendered an amount of them," she said in a written statement. "I had literally slaved (obviously) 18 hour days to meet their needs, non-stop, every day.I gave attention to deworming and vaccination schedule as well as other medical attention, also including getting up every half hour all night for newborns etc., as an example."

However, the Alberta Animal Rescue Crews Societyexecutive directorDeanna Thompson saidher organization was never contacted.

In the end, Irving voluntarily surrendered 60 of her dogs to the SPCA on Dec. 23.

Shetold CBC Newsthat SPCA officers agreed to give her until the end of January to pick a small core group of dogs to keep and find homes for the remaining ones.

Threats made

The agreement, she said, was that if she didn't find homes for them herselfshe would surrender the remaining 141 dogs to the SPCA.

Irving saidshe has always "fully co-operated" with the SPCA and other officials involved in checking on thewelfare of the dogs.

"This was an agreement between them and me in my yard when I surrendered them," she said.

But she saidSPCA officers arrived onJan. 13to seizeall of the remaining 141 dogs.

Many of the animals havebeen placed in foster homes orshelters across Alberta.No charges have yet been laid, but SPCA officials saidthey plan to do so soon.

When asked if she would try to get more dogs, Irving said, "No. I'm not going to turn around and do that, no, not at all."

But this isnot the first time dogs have been seized from her home. Irving has a past conviction for animal neglect in Saskatchewan and alsofaced four charges under Alberta's Animal Protection Act related to dogs she kept in FortMcMurray, although the charges were later dropped.

Irving also expressed fear for her personal safetyand said there have been threats made against her since the story of her dogs surfaced.