THUNDER BAY — A man and a woman from Thunder Bay both received custody sentences as well as other sanctions for abandoning nearly two dozen cats and kittens in a Thunder Bay park.
The incident happened in June 2016 when Ontario SPCA officers with the Thunder Bay & District Humane Society were called to Wilson Street Park where they found 23 cats in one dog crate.
One of the kittens was dead.
After witnesses came forward, the SPCA tracked down the two suspects and removed 37 additional cats from unsanitary conditions at a local residence.
April Cochrane, 45, pled guilty on Nov. 2, 2018 in Provincial Offences Court to causing distress to an animal, failing to provide for its general welfare, and failing to provide adequate and sanitary conditions.
She was sentenced to 60 days in custody, two years probation and received a two-year prohibition from owning or caring for animals. After probation, Cochrane will be restricted, for life, to owning a maximum of two animals at one time.
She was also fined $525 and ordered to make restitution in the amount of $1,300 to the SPCA.
Last June, 47-year-old Todd Quenville was sentenced to 90 days in custody after being convicted on the same three charges.
Quenville received the same monetary penalties, probationary period, and restriction against owning more than two animals as his co-accused.
"Animals are sentient beings, not items to be discarded when you no longer want them," Lynn Michaud, senior inspector with the SPCA, said in a prepared statement.
"We urge anyone who finds themselves in a situation where they are unable to care for their animals to reach out to the SPCA or their local humane society," Michaud added.
