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Friday, November 13, 2009

PSPCA investigates animal sacrifice in Olney

Pennsylvania SPCA workers had the unwelcome task today of sifting through the remains of five animals that apparently had been sacrificed, officials said.

A passerby found the beheaded animals -- a dog, cat and three chickens -- near a bike path on Bingham Street near Roosevelt Boulevard in Olney about 1 p.m., said George Bengal, the PSPCA’s director of investigations.

“It appears to be ritualistic sacrifice,” Bengal said.

“It looks like the act was done somewhere else, and the remains were left here in the park.”

PSPCA officials often see a rise in animals being sacrificed at this time of the year, he noted, because it coincides with “a lot of high holidays that different groups celebrate.”

But most sacrifices usually only involve goats and chickens. “This is a little over the top with the dogs and cats,” Bengal said. “The use of domestic animals is a bit bizarre.”

Criminal charges could be filed against the person or people who beheaded the cat and dog, he said.

Investigators were performing a necropsy on both animals last night to see if they had microchip implants, which are often used to identify pets.

“If they have [microchips], we should be able to trace it back to the owner,” Bengal said.

Tipsters can contact the PSPCA at 215-426-6300.
Posted by David Gambacorta @ 8:55 PM  Permalink | 1 comment
Comments   
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 8:11 PM, 11/14/2009
    Someone needs to start taking another serious look at what is going on inside the PSPCA. The media is focusing on the raids but not what happens to all these animals once they get to the PSPCA. The kill rate is very high. Animals are being killed for space not because they are aggressive or physically ill. Employees are being told not to publicize or admit that. Get behind the scenes where the public can not go and take a good look at what is still really going on at the PSPCA. That's where you will find the real news.
    — furball


1 comments
About The PhillyConfidential team

Dana DiFilippo has covered murder, mayhem and miscellany at the Daily News since 2000. She grew up in Delaware County and studied journalism and photography at Penn State University. E-mail tips to difilid@phillynews.com.

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Stephanie Farr has been reporting for the Daily News since 2007, covering everything from gay porn stars who entered the burglary business to moon trees, skinheads, murders and naked bike rides. She covers crime, both in the city and suburbs, and keeps clippings of bizarre Associated Press articles. Her favorite this year was the story about the drunk in Punxsutawney who gave mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to a dead opossum. E-mail tips to farrs@phillynews.com.

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Phillip Lucas joined the Daily News crime team in 2011. He grew up on the mean streets of Seattle and studied journalism and psychology at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Before landing in the City of Brotherly Love, Phillip was a reporter for The News Journal in Wilmington, Del. Email tips to lucasp@phillynews.com.

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Morgan Zalot is the newest crime reporter at the Daily News, starting in 2011 after interning at the paper twice as a Temple University journalism student. In her past stints at the DN, she covered just about everything, from drunken Phillies fans to a barber shop in a high school to a grisly murder-suicide. She’s a born-and-raised Philly girl who grew up in the Northeast. E-mail tips to zalotm@philly.com.

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