by Walter Brasch
In Johnstown, Pa., two abandoned puppies died
from starvation and freezing weather in an unoccupied house.
In Lancaster County, two puppies were left
in a backpack in freezing weather.
In Centre County, a dog was frozen to the
floor of its doghouse.
In Edwardsville, a woman abandoned 19 dogs
after she was evicted from her mobile home. Seven dogs had died of starvation.
The others were near death.
In Monroe County, police found three dogs,
each in a plastic bag, abandoned along the side of roads. Each was dead. One
had been shot.
All the cases were reported the past two
weeks in Pennsylvania. Hundreds more cases of animal abuse were not reported.
Four years ago, the Humane Society of the
United States (HSUS) rescued 253 dogs from the Almost Heaven puppy mill near
Allentown. “It was the most horrific house of horrors I had seen,” says Sarah
Speed, Pennsylvania HSUS director.
“When you walked into the kennel,” says
Speed, “you got slapped by the stench of filth and disease.” The kennel had a
make-shift “hospital.” “If they got better, usually without treatment,” says
Speed, “they went back to the kennel; if they didn’t, they died.”
The owner had been convicted twice before
of animal cruelty. This time he was given a three to six month jail sentence.
