 VANCOUVER — Langley dog walker Emma Paulsen has been charged with six offences under the Criminal Code of Canada and the BC Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act after allegedly leaving six dogs in the back of her truck, where they all died from apparent heatstroke. Emma Paulsen, of Delta, faces four charges under the Criminal Code, including killing or injuring an animal and causing unnecessary pain or suffering to an animal, each carrying a maximum prison term of five years, as well as failing to provide for an animal, punishable by up to two years in prison, and reporting an offence when it was not committed, which carries a five-year maximum sentence. Paulsen then panicked and allegedly concocted a story about the dogs being stolen, which led to an almost week-long search for the animals.
– In May, a Canadian dog walker claimed six dogs in her care were stolen from her truck at a dog park in Vancouver—the dogs were found in a ditch a week later. CBC now reports that Emma Paulsen has been charged with dumping the dogs in the ditch herself after they died in her truck; a necropsy confirmed heatstroke, adds the Vancouver Sun. "I know they suffered, and that's the part that, to this day, I still get sad about," one owner, whose dog Buddy died, tells CTV News. Paulsen now faces six "charges under pretty much every single possible section of animal cruelty that could have been in this particular case," an SPCA official tells the Global News, including two counts of causing an animal to continue to be in distress—which has never been charged in British Columbia. She could face jail time and stiff penalties; the distress charges carry a $75,000 fine each.