Crown counsel have approved charges in one of the highest-profile animal investigations in the Lower Mainland this year.

Five of the charges against Emma Paulsen involve cruelty to animals and the sixth is for committing public mischief.

Paulsen, a dog walker, told the media last May that six pets in her care were stolen from her pickup truck in Langley.

Langley RCMP later determined that the dogs had, in fact, died from heat stroke after being left in the back of her vehicle.

The animals' corpses were found dumped in a ditch in Abbotsford.