A woman formerly from the Houston area, convicted of animal cruelty in 2015, was back in court in Quesnel May 21.
Catherine Adams is currently on trial for a breach of probation charge stemming from her 2015 sentencing in Smithers Provincial Court, where she was found guilty of causing unnecessary pain/suffering to an animal and causing/permitting the animal to be in distress.
Emaciation, poor living conditions, parasite infestation, lack of food, water and medical treatment were among the conditions affecting some of the dogs and horses in Catherine and Karin’s care at the time.
On May 16, the trial was adjourned until this week.
Adams was charged with breaching her probation order on June 29, 2018, according to files accessed via B.C. Court Services Online.
The probation order prohibited her from owning or having custody of an animal.
READ MORE: Convicted animal abuse Catherine Adams faces breach of probation charge in Quesnel
Catherine — along with her mother Karin Adams — had 16 dogs seized from a property in Quesnel in June 2018, after an SPCA investigation found the dogs were being kept in crates too small for their size in a poorly ventilated area with little or no access to water and with feces- and urine-soaked matting.
READ MORE: SPCA seizes 16 dogs from property in Quesnel
Adams was met with the Rally4Paws animal abuse protest outside the Quesnel Law Courts when she arrived May 16. It was the second protest against animal abuse at one of her court dates.
READ MORE: Protesters gather in second Rally4Paws outside Quesnel’s Provincial Courthouse
In early November, Catherine was sentenced to 90 days in jail after she was convicted of animal cruelty charges in Drumheller, Alta.
Catherine and her mother were charged after police found 11 horses, 25 dogs and 17 birds in distress at their home near the village of Hanna, northeast of Calgary, in 2015.
READ MORE: Former B.C. woman gets 90 days in jail for latest animal cruelty
Karin Adams was also charged with impersonating a peace officer and mischief relating to interfering with property in Innisfail, Alta., after she was found with eight dogs in terrible condition in a hotel room in July, just weeks after having 16 dogs seized from her property in Quesnel.
Karin was also found guilty in Smithers in 2015 of causing or permitting an animal to be in distress.
READ MORE: Houston mother and daughter sentenced for animal cruelty charges
The SPCA said in July it would be recommending new charges of animal cruelty for both women due to the Quesnel incident, although charges have not yet been laid.
–With files from Melanie Law and Laura Baziuk