Repeat offender Gail Benoit facing new charges under Animal Protection Act

The SPCA says a Nova Scotia woman previously convicted of animal cruelty is facing charges again for allegedly violating the Animal Protection Act.

Gail Benoit is accused of selling cats without a veterinary certificate of health and refusing to provide information to an inspector or peace officer.

“Under the law, it changed in 2014,” explains SPCA investigator Karen Pickering, “you are supposed to abide by the law and any cat or dog sold must be sold with a vet certificate.”

The SPCA says its animal cruelty investigations team visited Benoit on Tuesday.

The investigation started after Justin Killen purchased two cats from a woman in a Dartmouth parking lot earlier this month.

A few days later he saw a picture of Gail Benoit on social media, believing it was the same woman who sold him the cats, Killen called the SPCA.

“When I was talking to the SPCA, they said, well did she give you the vet certificates, I said no, I said she never gave me anything, just a cat I said,” explains Justin Killen.

Benoit was convicted of animal cruelty in January 2009 for selling sick puppies.

In June 2014, she was sentenced to 15 months of probation for stealing and selling two dogs from a woman in New Brunswick, who gave the boxers to Benoit to look after while she went to school.

Benoit is due to face the new charges in Dartmouth provincial court on April 19.

Benoit has been barred by court order from buying or selling animals.