Woman given 5-year ban on animal ownership

2009-06-06

Jane Sims, London Free Press

Just the suggestion former animal sanctuary owner Vivian Singer would be banned from owning pets had her holding her face in her hands.

For the next five years, as part of her sentence for cruelty to animals, Singer, 50, can't have any pets and must find homes for the three dogs and three birds that live with her.

"I feel a tremendous amount of guilt," she told Justice John Skowronski yesterday. "It would be a horrendous shock to the animals to be moved."

The condition was on top of the 60-day sentence to be served on weekends and three years' probation for the neglect of dogs, cats, an African lion cub, birds, wolves, ponies, goats and other animals at the Kerwood Wolf Education Centre two years ago.

A group from Friends of Captive Animals had a small demonstration outside the courthouse yesterday morning.

Singer, a petite, bleached blond wearing heavy makeup, pleaded guilty in April to two counts of animal cruelty stemming from two investigations at the property in November 2006 and March 2007.

The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) and the OPP were overcome by the smell of feces and urine inside the home in Adelaide Metcalfe and were shocked to find starving, neglected animals there.

She no longer works with animals, but has a job as an exotic masseuse.