SASKATOON, Sask. – There doesn’t seem to be a standard penalty for people who abuse animals, according to an Alberta SPCA co-ordinator.
A judge in Airdrie, Alta., fined a woman $1,000 and prohibited her from owning animals for two years after she dumped a cat from a vehicle. A judge in Peace River, Alta., fined a couple $150 for the same offence.
The maximum fine under the Animal Protection Act is $5,000.
“In the north, to get a conviction is harder and fines are much lower,” said Candace Villett of the SPCA in Edmonton.
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Villett said the value system seems to be different in the north and it comes through in the level of fines.
“It was not long ago women were chattels in northern Alberta. By comparison a sheep or cat doesn’t have very much importance at all.”
A judge in Valleyview, in northern Alberta, fined a man $20 after he abandoned a sheep to fend for itself through the winter.
“I was livid, just livid,” said Villett when she heard about the fine. It was even more infuriating when she got a $67 speeding ticket the same day.
In other cases in northern Alberta a judge fined a Slave Lake man $200 when 205 cows were found in poor condition and another 70 head were found dead.
A Rycroft, Alta., woman was fined $250 for not providing proper shelter for her dog after she was warned to do so.
But also this year a judge in southern Alberta fined a man $1,500, placed him on four months probation and ordered him to pay the $157 veterinarian bill when two kittens belonging to acquaintances were put in an oven long enough to burn their feet and singe their hair.
