Animal hoarder ordered to reimburse SPCA $250K

Survivors among the 97 animals seized earlier this year from a Princeton-area farm won’t be going back there, after their former owner’s appeal was denied by the B.C. Farm Industry Review Board.

Janet Foulds asked the board to order the return of 67 dogs, 27 horses and three cats that were taken by the BC SPCA on Sept. 23 due to concerns about the animals’ health.

But not only did the board uphold the BC SPCA’s seizure, it also ordered Foulds to reimburse the cost of her former animals’ care: $254,000.

“Having made the determination the society acted appropriately, and the seizures were justified, and faced with (Foulds’) insistence that her care was already adequate, I can only conclude that there is complete failure to understand about the true state of the animals in her care,” the review board’s presiding member, Tamara Leigh, wrote in a Dec. 9 decision.

According to the 55-page judgment, Foulds was the subject of 40 complaints to the BC SPCA dating back to 2006, one of which resulted in the seizure of 56 animals in Surrey in 2015.

Foulds moved to a farm on Old Hedley Road near Princeton in January, and eight months later was the subject of a fresh complaint to the BC SPCA.

Officers paid several visits to Foulds’ farm, but got little in the way of co-operation from her, prompting the BC SPCA to obtain a search warrant.

Dr. Britt Mills, a veterinarian who accompanied officers during the Sept. 23 raid, told the hearing some animals were found in horrific conditions.

“In the downstairs bathroom there were seven 12-week-old puppies with no food or water and an open toilet with human fecal matter in it. These puppies were also thin with most of them showing visible ribs and a pot belly,” Mills testified.

Mills noted the horses were in especially poor health considering. Two of the horses were later euthanized, while 10 of the puppies died of parvovirus, which is easily prevented with standard vaccinations.

Foulds maintained all her animals were properly cared for.

“It was clear that (Foulds’) primary concern for the return of her animals centered on the return of the animals to support an income stream in her best interest,” Leigh concluded.

The Farm Industry Review Board is an administrative tribunal that’s an alternative to the courts for agricultural matters.