It’s too late for the hundreds of distressed dogs already seized from her custody, but five additional pets found dead on a Milk River farm in late January may stop a notorious dog hoarder — at least for the time being.

A temporary ban on owning or residing with any animal “during any period that the court considers appropriate” is just one possible punishment after Milk River RCMP charged April Dawn Irving with one count of cruelty to an animal, under Canada’s Criminal Code.

The criminal charge is separate from the provincial animal neglect case being built against 55-year-old Irving by SPCA officers, after 201 dogs were taken from the same property in two seizures, on Dec. 23 and on Jan. 15.

Alberta SPCA officials described it as one of the worst cases of neglect they’d ever seen, with injuries and ailments including broken bones, starvation, parasites, and fur so badly matted one dog couldn’t defecate,

But Irving vehemently disagreed and demanded to talk to police about the seizure of her “family” — and during that follow-up visit on Jan. 28, an officer found five more dogs on the property, all dead.

“They had no food in their system — they apparently starved,” said Cpl. Troy Dobson, who charged Irving following a necropsy on the three adult dogs and two puppies.

Calling it a “tough case to deal with,” Dobson said the five dogs were not seen on the property last month, when the massive seizure took place — and he can’t say whether they were hidden from investigators, or obtained afterwards.

“That’s a bit of a mystery right now,” said Dobson.

But with an established cause of death and the resulting federal criminal charge, Milk River RCMP may finally manage what SPCAs in two provinces haven’t.

In 2010, the Saskatchewan SPCA raided a property near the town of Leslie, east of Saskatoon, and seized 82 dogs in need of medical attention, but despite a neglect conviction under provincial law, there was nothing to stop Irving from moving to Alberta and starting another hoard.

Before that there was the 2007 raid in Fort McMurray, when SPCA officers took 36 huskies and wolfhounds from a northern Alberta kennel run by Irving, but couldn’t prevent her from doing the same in Saskatchewan.

Provincial laws don’t travel over provincial borders, and the Saskatchewan conviction meant nothing when Irving arrived in rural Milk River.

But a criminal conviction is different, and if she’s found guilty, Irving is likely to be banned from owning animals for a time, with the order in effect Canada-wide.

As a first conviction under the Criminal Code, such a ban would likely be less than five years, though Irving also faces possible jail time and a fine of up to $10,000 if found guilty of neglect, as well as having to pay back the costs incurred by the SPCA and other shelters.

A pet ban would include all of Canada, and put Irving under police radar from coast-to-coast.

“Being a Criminal Code case, it would cross provincial borders,” said Roland Lines, spokesman for the Alberta SPCA.

Tuesday’s charge may not be the only federal warrant for Irving, with the SPCA still building a case around the 201 animals seized before and after Christmas.

As well as having to euthanize two dogs and amputate the leg of another, officials at shelters across the province have been swamped trying to rehabilitate the mix of wolfhounds, komondors and huskies.

While Lines says he expects most of the likely charges to fall under the province’s animal protection rules, officers can ask the RCMP to lay criminal charges, if the cruelty warrants.

“In some cases, they can recommend that the RCMP lay Criminal Code charges,” said Lines.

Irving has maintained her innocence since the Jan. 15 raid, saying at least some of the dogs were well cared for, and they were all loved: “I have many expert witnesses to attest to the intense love I have for them, and also them for me,” she wrote, in a statement sent to the Sun.

When asked Tuesday if she wished to address the new criminal charge, Irving replied by email.

“That’s what a fair trial is for.”