PSPCA: Animal cruelty is 'epidemic' in the city

After recent dog-fighting and pet "hoarding" discoveries, the Pennsylvania SPCA declared yesterday that an animal-cruelty "epidemic" was sweeping Philadelphia.

On Saturday, a PSPCA agent discovered a pit-bull fighting house with 18 dogs. Three days earlier, 62 cats and dogs were found hoarded in a feces-filled Northeast rowhouse, a situation that PSPCA officers called "one of the worst cases of cruelty they have ever seen," said Howard Nelson, the agency's chief executive officer.

Meanwhile, a reward for information on the dumping of dead pit bulls in Fairmount Park has been increased to $3,000. Four have been found there in recent weeks.

"We are concerned that there are many more animals in our area that are suffering from abuse and neglect," Nelson said.

Besides fighting, pit bulls have been subjected to hoarding. Last month, the PSPCA discovered 17 that had been placed in a moving truck by a woman leaving her Oxford Circle home.

"In many hoarding cases, the individuals believe they are helping animals by taking them in, but in reality they are doing more harm than good," Nelson said.

"You cannot properly care for that many cats and dogs at one time, especially in a small house in the city. The animals are better off at the shelter, where they will be cared for until they are adopted," he said.

In the latest cruelty case, on Saturday night, authorities were led to 1198 Adams Ave. in Frankford, where PSPCA Officer Tony Beltram found dog-training equipment, including a treadmill and a water tank with chains to keep dogs from jumping out.

"They make the dogs tread water for hours on end," PSPCA Officer Wayne Smith said.

Also found was a "breaking stick" for prying a dog's jaws open, planks for a fighting ring, a medical kit with syringes, a "rape stand" for mating dogs, and a staple gun.

One of the 18 dogs rescued from the house had old gashes in its back that had been stapled shut.

No perpetrators were at the house, but investigators are following several leads, Smith said.

Since the summer, the bodies of four pit bulls have been found in Fairmount Park. Near two of them, authorities found spent bullet casings.

The original $500 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone involved was boosted by a $2,500 pledge from the Humane Society of the United States.

Last Wednesday, authorities found 46 cats and 16 dogs packed in a filthy Northeast Philadelphia house, along with a 63-year-old woman tenant who was involuntarily committed for psychiatric evaluation.

The owner of the house, Jerri Sueck, 51, was cited for failure to provide proper veterinary care and sanitary conditions.

Since the discovery, 10 of the animals were euthanized because of their poor medical conditions, officials said.