Dog lovers were shocked and saddened in May as the story of six missing canines played out, beginning in a Brookswood dog park.
The tale began with a report that Emma Paulsen, a dog walker from Delta, had seen the dogs, including one belonging to her, vanish from the back of a pickup truck.
After her report to police on May 13, dog owners and friends gathered to help search the area in case the dogs were running loose. Others checked online pet listings, thinking the dogs had stolen. The Langley RCMP opened an investigation, and dog owners and supporters held a rally at the Brookswood park.
However, in less than a week, Paulsen had confessed that the dogs had never been missing.
They had all died in the back of Paulsen’s truck on a warm day, while the vehicle was parked in Richmond.
Investigators later found the bodies of the dogs in a ditch in Abbotsford.
Paulsen was charged and in November pleaded guilty to two charges, one under the provincial Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act and one count of public mischief for falsely reporting a crime.
Paulsen is set to be sentenced in January.