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'Death camp' for cats found near Pittsburgh

March 14, 2008, 9:15AM MT

By Nicole Saunders

Humane agents raided a property north of Pittsburgh last night, finding hundreds of dead and dying cats in what may be the largest animal seizure in Pennsylvania history.

Humane agents raided a property north of Pittsburgh last night, finding hundreds of dead and dying cats in what may be the largest animal seizure in Pennsylvania history.

By Amy Worden, Inquirer Staff Writer

Howard Nelson, director of the Philadelphia-based Pennsylvania SPCA, which orchestrated the raid, said as many as 1,000 cats could ultimately be removed from Tiger Ranch, located in Tarentum, about 20 miles from Pittsburgh.

"It's a death camp," said Nelson, speaking by cell phone as he helped gather emaciated and diseased cats crammed into trailers and other outbuildings across the 30-acre property. "I see cats that can't walk, and dead cats in litter boxes and lying by food bowls."

Nelson said many of the cats have severe respiratory illnesses and others are infected with diseases that cause blindness.

A team of more than 100 people, including law enforcement officers, humane agents, veterinarians and volunteers, entered the property about 7:15 p.m., Nelson said.

What they found stunned even veteran humane agents.

"The vast number of animals and the degree of neglect is astounding," said Reba McDonald, a humane officer with the SPCA.

The raid was expected to last all night and into today as agents worked to trap the cats and deliver them to medical teams for assistance.

An emergency shelter was set up at the Clarion County SPCA to handle the vast number of animals.

Humane officers said the owner, Linda M. Bruno, would be charged with multiple counts of animal cruelty.

Bruno was at the site when the raid started and was being questioned late last night by state police troopers, Nelson said.

Nelson, speaking 90 minutes after the raid began, said Bruno was already facing 13 counts of cruelty connected to the first 17 cats seized.

Tiger Ranch - which, on its Web site, www.tigerranch.org, bills itself as "a cat sanctuary where mercy triumphs" - took in thousands of stray and unwanted cats a year from individuals and high-kill shelters from nine states.

But Nelson called it "a classic hoarding situation."

Postings on Internet message boards suggest that rescues from as far away as Georgia shipped cats to Tiger Ranch and that Philadelphia rescues also sent cats there.
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Contact staff writer Amy Worden at 717-783-2584 or aworden@phillynews.com.

Click here for the original story.

Reprinted with the permission of Amy Worden, and the Philadelphia Inquirer
Pampered kitties pictured above are unrelated to the story
Photo courtesy of Danielle Khordi
Posted by Nicole, PA Team Leader

Comments

Posted March 15, 2008, 10:52AM by ladykbk

If it was so very bad, then why in the heck were animal agencies still bringing cats to her???????

Anytime anybody ever mentioned that they might find the Tiger Ranch as an option for cats they were trying to place, I always begged them to try and place cats on their own.

Only because I thought the cats should be placed locally instead of transported out of our county.

This gives no-kill a very bad name and I hate it.

When are people going to start taking care of their own problems instead of just dumping them elsewhere?

Posted March 14, 2008, 1:40PM by bogiedew

How heartbreaking..are things like this ever going to end?

Posted March 14, 2008, 9:45AM by sherylcatmom

Heartbreaking. At least there is light ahead for these poor cats, some of them anyway. Network members had been inquiring about Tiger Ranch on the PA Forums and none of us could get first-hand accounts from people who had been there recently. Sadly, the fears are very well-founded.

Posted March 14, 2008, 1:41PM by AnimalFosterMom

More news on the local channel WTAE:
http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/15591266/detail.html#

The video shows the owner being arraigned in court this morning and also updating information about ongoing events at Tiger Ranch. Warning, a lot of this is extremely disturbing.

Posted March 21, 2008, 6:21AM by puttheanimalsfirst

i wish the world was a utopia for animals but its not..why dont people check out these 'sanctuaries' before they dump these animals? God forbid a peaceful euthanasia is 'evil'. Life at any cost seems to be the mantra. We need to get the overpopulation of animals under control!..Spay spay spay..quit promoting breeders and dog shows and .pets shops .that encourage puppies and kittens...'disposible' animals like bunniesand hamsters and birds.. When you have adoptions SCREEN SCREEN SCREEN..

Posted March 14, 2008, 12:43PM by kittychump

This is JUST EXACTLY what has been going on at the parallal "Cats With No Name" socalled 'sanctuary' in Pine Grove, PA, run by owner/exploiter/hoarder Virginia Kresge Justiniano - the subject of our legal case & PA investigators. And, just like Tiger Ranch, the investigation dragging on & continuing suffering of animals is the case - and uninformed and/or naive people continue to take animals to Virginia/CWNN even though she DOESN'T EVEN HAVE A VET. She's driving her "mobile clinic" van around 8 counties in PA, taking in animals for "care" = torture. Finally Tiger [Torture] Ranch is shut down. CWNN is NOT!! Virginia is posting on sites like NJARA trying to get folks to "host" her van on their propery in the Philadelphia area!!! BEWARE. Tiger Ranch's situation shows that a longstanding location can melt down into hoarding insanity. CWNN shows how a criminal-scammer can develop exploiter/hoarding into an evil mini-empire. What's the common denominator? ROTTEN LAW ENFORCEMENT LOCALLY & ROTTEN WEAK LAWS IN PA AS A WHOLE.

Posted March 15, 2008, 12:24PM by spayme

Only in PA. if you watch the video from WTAE-tv4 http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/video_legacy/15595391/index.html. He says you can hear the gun shots in the background as they euthanize the cats.

PA is a truly amazing state and everytime I think I can't be shocked anymore. I am proved wrong

Carol
Puppy Mill Awareness Day

Posted March 14, 2008, 1:1PM by AnimalFosterMom

Latest updates on the local channel in Pittsburgh, KDKA at
http://kdka.com/local
I believe they have some video too.
The owner of Tiger Ranch is presently in the Allegheny County Jail as of last night.

Posted March 14, 2008, 11:22PM by coley0502

Alice,

I posted the image and am not planning to remove it. I chose the image as they are two rescued cats living the life that the cats at Tiger Ranch should have been living and clearly are not. Its the stark contrast I was trying to get across.

I also used that photo knowing that PA will be posting numerous updates in the days to come (I have one in the works right now) where I will be using photo's of the rescued animals supplied by PSPCA.

In addition, most posts with any graphic content that appear on this community contain a warning, and then link to the graphic material. I do my best not to include anything disturbing as the main photo, and most people prefer that I handle it that way.

In NO way would I ever disrepect the suffering of an animal. I have a ton of links collected of news stories, video and images- I assure you, there is no disrespect here. I am dedicated to the animals and work hard to make a difference.

Thank you.

Posted March 14, 2008, 12:45PM by kittychump

Please change your photo - it disrespects the sufferings of the animals at Tiger Ranch. BF - you can get a photo of the arrested person from the media photos e.g. in the Philadelphia Inquirer story. Thanks!!!