April Irving outside Lethbridge Provincial Court July ,2019

By Lara Fominoff

“I gave up my body for my animals”- April Irving tells judge during sentencing hearing

Oct 24, 2019 | 10:53 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – It will likely be at least a month before a 59-year-old Milk River woman who pleaded guilty in late July to four counts of causing animals to be in, or continue to be in distress under the provincial Animal Protection Act, will know if she’s banned from owning any animals for the rest of her life in Alberta.

Sentencing arguments in the April Dawn Irving case took place in Lethbridge Provincial Court Wednesday, Oct. 23. While Crown Prosecutor Tyler Raymond and Defence lawyer Bjoren Wolkmann told Judge Derek Redman they agreed on several points, they also disagreed on one major issue: whether Irving’s sentence should include a lifetime ban on owning animals.

Irving was originally charged with 14 animal cruelty related offences in early 2015, after more than 200 dogs were seized from her property near Milk River, along with five more that were found dead.

The dogs were discovered starving, dehydrated and chained to stakes in a yard.

Irving has one prior conviction on her record for a contravention of the Animal Protection Act in Saskatchewan. As a result of that conviction, she was ordered not to have custody of or control of any more than two dogs or two of any other animal for a period of 10 years in that province. The order was made by Judge J. Plemel June 27, 2013. When she moved to Alberta, the order was not enforceable.

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She was picked up by RCMP in Manitoba in January 2019, after she fled Alberta in 2016 when she failed to appear for two court dates as instructed. She pleaded guilty in March to one count of failing to appear and was sentenced to 30 days time served.

According to Raymond, Irving served 147 days in jail including the applied pre-trial credit. In Alberta, incarceration is not a sentencing option for those charged under the provincial Animal Protection Act. He pointed out that is not the case in some other provinces, and urged Judge Redman not to put too much emphasis on the fact that she had served nearly six months in jail, because in some other jurisdictions, the maximum sentence could be up to three years.

Raymond says fines of nearly $17,000 were imposed, however because of Irving’s inability to pay them, both sides agreed that time served could be applied instead if the judge agreed.

During sentencing arguments, her lawyer told the court that preventing her from owning any animals would cause her extreme distress. She was diagnosed in 2010 with major depression, but is not currently being treated with any medication, and lives with it on a “day to day” basis.

Wolkmann said Irving prefers dogs be chained, rather than tied up- but that they be allowed periods to “run free.” She doesn’t believe full shelters are necessary for them, but that “less is more;” and that snow in the winter months is adequate rather than providing them with water.

She began with 18 dogs in Alberta; 9 male and 9 female. But because she had to travel back and forth to Saskatchewan, they would be left alone for extended periods of time. She did not spay or neuter any of the dogs, believing it would cost $1,500 per dog to do so. When she returned from her trips, there would be numerous litters for her to deal with.

Wolkmann told the court that Irving attempted to re-house some of the dogs, but no one could take them, and she didn’t have enough food for them.

“It wasn’t a matter of abandoning them,” he contended. “It was a matter of care and not being able to care for them all.”

Her punishment he says, has come in several forms, including being characterized as “the crazy cat lady,” except with dogs. She has suffered media scrutiny and will have to live the rest of her life knowing some of her dogs died. She understood the order to refrain from owning dogs in Saskatchewan, but chose to ignore it in Alberta. Now, he argued, she is a changed person.

However, Raymond told the court that while she doesn’t appear to be a threat to any other animals, her record in Saskatchewan was for the exact same offences and that animals must be protected from her in Alberta. He conceded that there is nothing stopping her from going to B.C. or any other province besides Saskatchewan and acquiring more dogs.

Judge Redman allowed Irving to speak as well. For nearly an hour on and off, she rambled – sometimes nonsensically – about her childhood, her life, how she prefers the company of animals to people, how she had been before judges for 17 years, about trying to secure food during blizzards, jealous wives, her intelligence and how she should have run a corporation, alleged abuse suffered sometime while she was young, and her ability to fix just about anything.

“You must see that I’m intelligent and full of love,” she told Redman. “…I spent five years lying in a fetal position because I couldn’t do anything about my dogs.”

At least twice, the judge requested that she stay on topic; only referring to what impact a lifetime ban on owning dogs would have on her.

Irving finally told him that because her case has been so widely reported, she can’t rent a house, rent an apartment, get a job, or have a relationship.

“But I’ve kept myself alive,” she added. “I gave up my body for my animals.”

Judge Redman told the court he will likely make a sentencing decision sometime in December.