Accused Milk River dog hoarder back in Alberta to face charges

An Alberta woman accused of dog hoarding and animal crueltyhas been brought back to Alberta to face charges, five years after 201 dogs were seized from her rural property.

April Dawn Irving, 59, faces one criminal chargeof causing suffering to an animal, as well as 13 chargesof animal cruelty under provincial statutes.

Irving was arrested Jan. 16 in Stonewall, Man., andRCMP transported herback to Alberta on Jan. 22. She was scheduled to appear in Lethbridge Provincial Court on Thursday and will now stay in custody until her next court appearance on Jan.30.

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More than 200 dogs were seized from her property in Milk River,Alta.,in 2014.

Irving failed to show up for her court dates in Lethbridge, moved out of the country, and moved provinces as the case wound its way through the system.

The seizure of the dogs made headlines as one of the worst cases of neglect animal neglect in Alberta.

All dogs placed in new homes

DeannaThompson, executive director of the Alberta Animal Rescue Crew Society, who was elated at news of the arrest, told CBC her organization will be watching the case closely.

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"We're just really hoping and praying that the justice system will be able to stop her from having animals," said Thompson. "I really do hope that we will see justice for these animals."

Thompson said all 201 dogsseizedfrom the property have since found new homes in Alberta and B.C.

Irving has a long history of charges in Alberta and Saskatchewan. She had more than 80 dogs taken from her property near Foam Lake, Sask., in 2010.

That garnered her a 10-year ban on owning more than two dogs at a time in Saskatchewan only.She was convicted under Saskatchewan's Animal Protection Act in 2013.

Irving fled to Jamaica

In the Milk Rivercase, afterIrving failed to show up for 2016 court dates in Lethbridge, she was found to beliving in Jamaica, where she again alarmed local veterinarians by bringing in emaciated dogs.

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Irving's history of moving and evasion frustrated animal welfare advocates like Kaley Pugh, former executive director of Animal Protection Services of Saskatchewan.

"People moving from one province to the next is actually quite common," Pugh said. "We've had quite a few cases in Saskatchewanof people that have been convicted after previous issues in Alberta or previous issues in Manitoba."

Pugh said she was shocked to hear that Irving was living in Jamaica.She said it hadn't occurred to her that somebody could leave the country with warrants out for their arrest.

"I thought that that was absurd," Pugh said.

"It's really unfortunate that there's these loopholes in the system that mean that people who we're looking for here can just leave the country."

Irving remains in RCMP custody.

Milk River is about 300 kilometres southeast of Calgary.

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