Animal activists expressed outrage yesterday after a Saint John woman was given a conditional sentence to be served in the community and a year to pay a $200 fine for causing the deaths of 14 cats.

Skye Elizabeth Harvey, 18, previously pleaded guilty to a charge of endangering and harming 15 cats.

One of the 15 Himalayan cats survived after Harvey crammed them into a dog crate and then into a garbage bag, and left them behind at her home on the city's west side last year, the provincial court in Saint John was told.

She killed 14 cats and she is not doing a day in jail. This is wrong. - Michelle Parker, Rescue Meow

Michelle Parker, one of about a dozen animal activists who gathered outside the Saint John Law Courts building to confront Harvey, said the sentence is too lenient for the crime.

"She killed 14 cats and she is not doing a day in jail. This is wrong," said Parker, a member of Rescue Meow.

"What are we saying? That it's OK to hurt, abuse, and neglect and murder animals and it's OK because she is just 18?That's foolishness," she said.

Harvey was also ordered to get counselling, and stay away from animals and not stay in a house with pets for the next 10 years.

She had also previously been charged with violating the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act by failing to provide the cats with food, shelter, water and care. That charge was dropped.

Evidence showed Harvey had put the cats in the crate to avoid a negative inspection by her landlord, who did not allow pets in the house. She later forgot about them, court was told.

Fourteen of the cats were either found dead on the scene on Aug. 28, 2015, or were later euthanized.

Harvey's age and her early guilty plea were deciding factors in her sentencing, the judge said.

I think it's absolutely ridiculous that death by torture is OK as long as you say you are guilty. - Stephanie Thornton, Rescue Meow

"I think it's absolutely ridiculous that death by torture is OK as long as you say you are guilty," said Stephanie Thornton, founder of Rescue Meow.

Tara Theall discovered the cats in the crate last year.

Theall was out with her twin sister and best friend looking for their own lost cat when they found the dead animals in the bushes.

Theall was uncomfortable talking about the condition of the cats, but said in an interview outside of court that she thought the sentencing was fair.

"It took a really long time, but we are really happy with what happened. I think two years jail time, which everybody else wanted, wouldn't do her any good. She needs the help."