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Repeat animal abuser Catherine Adams sentenced to 90 days in jail

A judge in Drumheller has sentenced Catherine Adams to 90 days behind bars for abusing animals.

Provincial court judge said she's concerned Adams could endanger more animals

Catherine Adams, left, was convicted of animal cruelty in February after dozens of malnourished horses, dogs and birds were discovered on her property in central Alberta in 2015. (Facebook/BC SPCA)

A judge in Drumheller, Alta., sentenced Catherine Adams on Friday to 90 days behind bars for abusing animals.

Adams was found guilty in February of animal cruelty and willfully causing pain, suffering or injury to an animal.

Her sentencing was postponed in August after Judge Judith Shriar said she was too emotional to sentence someone who showed an "astonishing lack of reasoning ability" and was "not taking this process seriously."

Nine malnourished horses, 25 dogs and 17 birds were seized in 2015 from a property Adams shared with her mother, Karin, near Hanna, northeast of Calgary.

Charges against her mother were dismissed.

Judge Shriar said Friday she had valid concerns about Adams endangering other vulnerable animals.

Her jail time will be followed by two years of probation.

Catherine Adams enters Drumheller court on Friday. (Kate Adach/CBC)

Catherine and her mother were first convicted in 2014 and banned from owning animals for 20 years after officials seized 18 horses, 18 dogs, 15 birds, two cats and 104 fish from a property near Houston, B.C.

The horses were so malnourished, they were eating wood in an attempt to survive, while the dogs had matted fur, dental issues and lacerations. 

They were ordered to pay $5,500 in restitution to the B.C. SPCA. Catherine was sentenced to six months conditional house arrest and three years probation, and Karin was sentenced to 15 days in jail.

On July 17, RCMP arrested Karin and rescued eight dogs from her motel room in Innisfail, Alta. Mounties said they had responded to reports that a woman was posing as a law enforcement officer and was trying to take a dog from its owner.

The elder Adams was released by a justice of the peace on multiple conditions, including a prohibition from owning, having the custody or control of or residing in the same premise of any animal. 

Less than two weeks earlier, on July 4, SPCA officers in B.C. had seized 16 dogs in distress that Catherine and Karin were keeping on a property in Quesnel.

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, the SPCA said.