Sask. woman to fight for seized cats in court
Earlier this week, a Saskatoon court granted a preliminary injunction to prevent the SPCA from euthanizing or giving away the cats, a dog, an iguana and a number of turtles seized last week from the home of Dolores La Plante.
La Plante runs an animal rescue charity called Saskatchewan Alley Cat Allies out of her house in Elrose, about 160 kilometres southwest of Saskatoon.
She maintains she has done nothing wrong, and next Tuesday, will ask a judge to order the animals returned to her.
The SPCA seized the animals because, it said, the cats were in distress and needed to be rescued.
On a website for her group, La Plante says a lot of unwanted pets have come her way in recent months and admits she has been somewhat "overwhelmed."
However, she denies the animals were mistreated and is trying to get the cats back.
"If someone comes in and these animals are skin and bones and they are as bad as the cats I rescue from hoarders … then I should be shut down," she said. "But I know that's not the case."
La Plante accuses the SPCA of going after her, at least in part, because the animal welfare agency sees her as the competition.
"We haven't been targeting her," said Saskatchewan SPCA executive director Frances Wach.
"The veterinarian determined that the animals needed to be removed to ensure their health and well-being, and that is what we did."
Meanwhile, La Plante still has another 23 cats at her home, which has undergone a public health inspection, the results of which are not yet known.