KENTVILLE, N.S. — A Kings County woman will be back in court next month on a charge of animal cruelty and failing to comply with an SPCA order.
Karin Nerida Robertson, 57, made a brief appearance in Kentville provincial court Tuesday morning, where she received the Crown disclosure in the case. She did not enter a plea, and is in the process of retaining a lawyer, she told Judge Chris Manning.
She will return to court next month.
She was charged after the SPCA raided her business near Wolfville last year, seizing more than 30 dogs. Robertson bred Jack Russell terriers and border collies at her home.
Among other things, the SPCA alleges that the conditions at the operation were unsanitary.
Outside court, a small group of people held signs calling for animal rights.
Spokeswoman Stephanie Gustys said the group, members of a Facebook group called Justice for Meeka, was there to show support for the SPCA and protection of animal rights in Nova Scotia.
She said the group had expected about 100 of its members to show up at court but only half a dozen did so, which she suspected was because of work schedules and how short the court appearance was expected to last.
“We're trying to show as citizens that we are behind (the SPCA) and their actions in trying to stand up for animal welfare,” she said.
She said the group has no actual affiliation with the SPCA.
Part of the reason for the rally was also to protest puppy mills, Gustys said.
The National Companion Animal Coalition defines puppy mills as high-volume, substandard dog breeding operations that sell purebred or mixedbreed dogs, have substandard health or environmental issues, substandard animal care, treatment or socialization, and substandard breeding practices.
Those kinds of conditions are what the SPCA is looking for and makes such operations illegal, Gustys said.
She didn't know how big an issue puppy mills may be in the province.
“The problem is that they're not really shutting them down, they're going in and trying to help them get their premises up to code and up to standards. It's hard to distinguish between a puppy mill and a breeder.”
She said her group wants people who see poor conditions when they go to get a dog from a breeder to not take the dog and instead report the facility.
“One of the girls in our group has already reported someone she saw who wasn't providing proper medical attention to her dog.”
Gustys said that person ended up going to the vet, but she doesn't know if it was because the SPCA talked to them or just because word spread through the community.
