The Crown is seeking jail time and a fine for a dog walker who left six dogs in a hot truck in Richmond last year and then tried to cover up their deaths by telling the public they had been stolen.
Crown counsel Jim MacAulay is asking that Emma Paulsen be sentenced to three to six months consecutively on each count on public mischief and cruelty to animals changes and a fine of $5,000-$10,000.
Paulsen's sentencing is taking place in a Surrey courtroom today. She pleaded guilty to one charge under the provincial Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, and one charge of public mischief for falsely reporting a crime.
The Crown is also seeking a lifetime ban on owning animals and 10-year ban on caring for anyone else's animals.
The Crown presented its case first Wednesday morning to Surrey Provincial Court Judge James Jardine, with defence to follow.
MacAuley laid out the facts of the case, while several of the owners of the dead dogs watched from the gallery, sometimes in tears.
Paulsen was charged over the deaths of six dogs after their bodies were found in a ditch in Abbotsford last May.
At the time, Paulsen reported they had been stolen from the back of her truck in Langley before admitting the animals died from heat exhaustion after she left them in the back of the vehicle.
"Ms. Paulsen was warned numerous times not to do what she did," MacAulay told the court. "In addition, she's a professional, she's been hired to look after the animals."
"Her actions demonstrate extreme recklessness," MacAulay said.
He suggested that jail time would send a message of deterence out to others who might also negligently leave animals in vehicles.
"All we have to do is think, 'Don't leave your animal in a car,'" said MacAulay.
Paulsen sat through the morning's proceedings slightly hunched forward, occasionally dabbing at her face with a tissue.
Outside the courthouse, Amber Williams, the owner of Mia, one of the dogs, said she does hope that Paulsen receives the six- to 12-month sentence.
It was upsetting, but she said she was glad to hear more details about the circumstances of the case.
"We still have not heard an apology from her yet," Williams said.
Reports of the missing dogs prompted a massive community search before ultimately leading officers to the bodies in a Fraser Valley ditch.
The temperature was as high as 25 C on May 13, when Paulsen left the dogs, including one of her own, in the truck.
Paulsen initially said she was away from her vehicle for only a few minutes to use the washroom at a park and that when she returned the animals were gone.
The maximum sentence for animal cruelty cases is two years.
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