The SPCA will be recommending animal cruelty charges in the deaths of six Ladner dogs earlier this month.
The B.C. SPCA announced Monday it will be recommending the charges against the dog walker after the six canines allegedly died while in her care.
While the SPCA is still completing its report, chief prevention and enforcement officer Marcie Moriarty said enough evidence has been obtained in the investigation so far to warrant a recommendation of separate animal cruelty charges for each dog.
The SPCA report will be submitted to Crown counsel within the next few weeks.
"Obviously the ultimate decision about whether or not charges will be laid rests with Crown counsel, but the preliminary necropsy results and other evidence gathered in our investigation so far supports our recommendation," Moriarty said.
Initially reported stolen from her truck parked at a Langley park, the dog walker later admitted the canines died after being left in the vehicle on a hot day.
The search began Tuesday, May 13 after the dog walker reported the six canines, including her own, were taken from the back of her truck. At the time she said she had exercised the animals at the park and left them in the back of the truck for less than 10 minutes while she went to use a nearby restroom.
The distraught owners, who all live in Ladner, rallied, following leads, distributing flyers, offering a reward and calling in Petsearchers Canada, a Vancouver-area pet detective and bloodhound tracking service.
Last Monday, however, Petsearchers announced the dogs had died, likely from heat exhaustion, after being left in the back of the truck.
According to a statement on the Petsearchers website, the dog walker "disclosed that on May 13th, all six dogs were in the back of her vehicle with the side vent windows open and water available, as she had done hundreds of times."
Some time during the outing that day, however, all six dogs succumbed to heatstroke and, the dog walker disposed of the bodies and concocted the story.
The dogs were later recovered from an Abbotsford ditch.
An online petition has been started to make animal cruelty an indictable offence under the Criminal Code. The petition has garnered more than 103,000 signatures.
There is also an online fundraising drive, initially started to help cover the costs of the search for the dogs, that will now help fund memorials for the canines as well as legal fees.
Donations can be made by visiting http://www.gofundme.com/97yjh4.
The petition can be found by visiting www.thepetitionsite.com and searching Brookswood 6.
