The SPCA has forwarded both animal cruelty and criminal charges to Crown prosecutors against a controversial private zoo and conservation centre in Fort Langley, B.C.

The agency first recommended charges against the Mountain View Conservation Centre last month after an adult Masai giraffe died after being sedated for an emergency hoof-trimming procedure at the facility. Two other giraffes, and adult and a baby, died at Mountain View during a cold snap in December.

The procedure for Jerome the giraffe could have been avoided if the animal's hooves had been trimmed regularly, said Marcie Moriarty of the B.C. SPCA.

"They had this giraffe and they should have identified at some point in his life he would need to trim his hooves," she told ctvbc.ca.

"He was in pain – he was suffering."

The agency says the results of the four-year-old giraffe's necropsy, or animal autopsy, prove the animal was suffering. The SPCA said it obtained a copy of the necropsy through a search warrant after the facility refused to share results with investigators.

"There is ample evidence to support this was negligence in the very least," Moriarty said.

After Jerome's death, a Mountain View spokesperson told CTV News the animal had been cared for at the facility for more than a decade, and its hoof problem was likely genetic.

The SPCA began investigating the private zoo in November, when a group of eight ex-employees and volunteers contacted them with complaints that the centre failed to properly care for dozens of injured and dying animals by not calling a veterinarian. Seventeen more people joined the complaint days later.

The Mountain View Conservation Centre spans more than 250 acres and is home to 50 species of rare and endangered animals.

Owner Gordon Blankstein says the facility's goal is to breed animals facing extinction, including the Vancouver Island marmot and African hunting dogs, in hopes of releasing them back into the wild.

The maximum penalty for an animal-cruelty charge under the Criminal Code is a five-year prison term or a $10,000 fine. Under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, the maximum is six months in prison and a $10,000 fine.

It is now up to Crown to look over the case and decide whether to lay charges.