Canada: Twice convicted animal abuser Michael Cairns gets 30 days in jail. But they're bending over backwards to make it easy on him - letting him check-in on weekends like a hotel.

CANADA -- A man who pleaded guilty to animal cruelty has been sentenced to prison time in what the SPCA is calling a first for the province.

Michael Cairns, of Lower Sackville, was sentenced to 30 days in the Nova Scotia Correctional Facility on Thursday.

THE COURTS BEND OVER BACKWARDS FOR CRIMINAL

In order to accommodate this animal abuser - who has been twice convicted, they've been so kind as to allow him to serve his jail time on the weekends so it doesn't interfere with his life. He'll be able to show up on Saturdays at 8pm, hang out and then check-out at 5am on Mondays -- just like a hotel. Isn't that nice? God forbid Michael Cairns is burdened by the punishment of his crimes. 

In December 2014, the Nova Scotia SPCA discovered 19 cats living in deplorable conditions at an apartment in Lower Sackville. 

"The conditions were quite horrific. The ammonia smell was extreme, there was feces everywhere, there was no clean area whatsoever in the apartment. The cats were hiding in cupboards, in drawers, closets. There was no food or water present when we were there."

Six of those cats were in such poor shape they had to be euthanized. 

The rest were put up for adoption after receiving veterinarian care.

Cairns was charged with confining 19 cats to an enclosure or area with unsanitary conditions, so as to significantly impair the animal’s health. He pleaded guilty to the charge.

In a statement, Nova Scotia SPCA chief inspector Joanne Landsburg said she was “incredibly pleased” with the sentence.

“This is the first we have seen jail time given for a violation under Nova Scotia Animal Protection Act,” Landsburg said, adding she was “grateful” that the province’s justice department “has taken these charges seriously.”

THE SILVER LINING IN THIS TURD OF A SENTENCE 

Cairns has also been handed a lifetime ban on owning animals and is prohibited from living in a house where animals are housed.

He will be on probation for 1 year and was ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution to the SPCA. However, considering he was ordered to pay nearly the same amount to them back in 2013 and never did - and apparently the courts did nothing about it, if I were the SPCA I wouldn't be holding my breath for this money from him.

REPEAT ANIMAL ABUSER

Cairns had been previously convicted (in 2013) for similar animal cruelty offences in 2011. Back then, he was given probation and banned from owning animals for 18 months. He was also ordered to pay $1,663 in restitution to the SPCA, which was never paid.

(CTV - Oct 22, 2016)