AFTER FIVE MONTHS of running animal care and control in Philadelphia, and running into a buzz saw of criticism, the Pennsylvania SPCA is trying to mend its ways, but has serious questions to answer.

The 15-second background: After surrendering the animal-control contract in 2002, PSPCA last year campaigned to get it back from the Philadelphia Animal Care and Control Association, which had been created by the city Health Department to operate the shelter that handles 31,000 animals a year. A house of horrors in its early days, PACCA was exposed, reorganized and by last year was saving 60 percent of the animals, although some problems continued.

On Jan. 1, PSPCA assumed the animal-care contract, under the banner of Animal Care and Control Team, even though the actions and truthfulness of PSPCA Executive Director Howard Nelson were being questioned. Six weeks later, Nelson quit, throwing the shelter and its operations into chaos.

The first question: Who's in charge? After Nelson parachuted out, the board of directors, led by President Harrise Yaron, was lethargic in searching for a new executive director. PSPCA took too much time to post and publicize the opening, which eventually resulted in a dozen applicants. Four were interviewed, said Yaron, who added that the new leader would be named this week.

Beth Anne White, a board member dragooned to run the organization on an interim basis, told me she did not apply for the job. Her family business "desperately" needs her back.

The next question: Does PSPCA still want the $3 million city contract, which expires at the end of next month? Yaron previously said yes, but that's no longer certain because this year PSPCA will lose a projected $1 million on the contract, said Yaron.

PSPCA wants a raise, but there's little chance the city will give more to animal control when it's cutting everything else. I asked, "What if PSPCA doesn't get more city money?" Yaron replied: "I don't know. I don't want to say, 'What if.' "

If after campaigning for the job, PSPCA runs when the going gets tough, it will earn the enmity of every animal-lover in the city.

If PSPCA leaves, the city will have to scramble to find a new vendor, the third in seven years. This brings the Health Department's selection process into question, and Councilman Jack Kelly wants hearings into the department's oversight and operations at PSPCA.

Just when PSPCA didn't need any more grief, last week there was an outbreak of panleukepenia, highly contagious feline distemper, at each shelter - ACCT at 111 W. Hunting Park Ave. and PSPCA at 350 E. Erie Ave.

On Friday, panicked animal-activists - perhaps in response to an "urgent" e-mail from ACCT asking immediate action to pull cats out of the shelter - were buzzing that more than 100 cats had been euthanized, and a shelter-clearing massive kill was planned.

On Saturday, PSPCA Medical Director Dr. Rachel Lee told me that three cases were found at each shelter. She could not verify the 100 figure, but said it was possible, due as much to seasonal overcrowding in the shelter as to the disease. Sick animals have been quarantined, and she believes the outbreak is under control.

Another serious question, voiced by animal-advocates such as Garrett Elwood, who heads Citizens for a No-Kill Philadelphia, is the save rate, which is the number of animals that exit the shelter to a rescue group or adoptive home.

While PSPCA lived up to one promise by publishing save data online, Elwood pounced when the January save rate was a suspiciously high 72.4 percent, much higher than PACCA's.

When the February save rate zoomed to 80.9 percent, activists howled and hurled accusations that PSPCA was moving animals from the ACCT shelter to the PSPCA, where they were euthanized "off the books." PSPCA denied it, loudly.

For March, when PSPCA changed its methodology, the rate dropped to 62.3 percent, a believable number, approximating the PACCA save rate.

"It's a positive move in the right direction" said Elwood, who added that he couldn't be sure the numbers were accurate. He's "disappointed and frustrated that animals were euthanized at Erie Avenue."

In previous reporting I've done, kennel cough among dogs was a near-epidemic. Only 30 percent of dogs now have kennel cough, according to Dr. Lee.

That "sounds extremely low to me," said Melissa Levy, executive director of the Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society, a major rescue partner.

Last month, Philadelphia Weekly's Tara Murtha reported - among other things - that cats and dogs were not being vaccinated upon arrival at the shelter, setting the table for the spread of disease. Rescue groups were complaining that almost all cats taken from the shelter were sick.

After first denying the allegations - SOP for the PSPCA, which reacted the same to previous stinging stories - CEO White admitted that during a 10-day period in February protocols fell apart, a situation that was resolved when Dr. Lee came in and cracked the whip.

In "almost every case," shots are given immediately, or within 12 hours, White said.

That is challenged by Barry Watson, who works with Stray Cat Blues, who says things are currently "the worst by far, going back to 2002."

PAWS' Levy said, "It's not just the vaccination issue, it's the overall intake procedure or lack thereof." PAWS receives animals that "we discover to have conditions that should have been treated, or that we should have been alerted to before arriving."

Finally, the promised ACCT citizens' advisory board had an organizational meeting May 5. It is composed of nine outside members plus three members of the PSPCA board, with board member Carolyn Saligman serving temporarily as chair. Because the advisory board is supposed to be independent, it should not be chaired by a board member.

While humans try to get it sorted out, Philadelphia annually kills about 12,000 innocent animals. We can and must do better.

E-mail stubyko@phillynews.com or call 215-854-5977. For recent columns:

http://go.philly.com/byko.