When Drexel Hill resident and state Dog Law Advisory Board member Tom Hickey saw a video Friday posted on YouTube showing two badly matted St. Bernards - one barely able to walk - living in plywood boxes he was angry and determined to do something about it. The dogs were hundreds of miles away in Johnstown, but nevertheless he sprang into action.

He called local agencies responsible for enforcing state animal cruelty laws: West Hills Police Department and the Humane Society of Cambria County. So did scores of animal welfare activists from around the country horrified by the video taken by Tammy Thayne of Dogs Deserve Better, an Altoona-based, anti-dog tethering group.

Hickey called the Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement in Harrisburg and was told since the dogs did not belong to a licensed kennel there was nothing they could do.

He said he worked the phones all day trying to get help for the St. Bernards and also a German Shepherd on the property only to find out that the dogs disappeared overnight and there would be no investigation of the alleged cruelty.

Both Cambria shelter and the West Hills Police Dept. told the Johnstown Tribune Democrat no charges would be filed, but gave no explanation why.

The dogs' owner Robert Stephey told the newspaper that on Thursday he "legally put down the dog" who he said had suffered a stroke and that he'd given away the other two dogs. He said he had four other dogs and at one time had a state kennel license.

Animal welfare advocates say the case exposes gaping holes in the enforcement of cruelty laws in Pennsylvania that have allowed animals to needlessly suffer. The Humane Society told Hickey they had no officer on duty and said the case was being handled the West Hills Police Dept. Officers there told Hickey animal cruelty was not their responsibility.

"It was a complete breakdown of the system," said Hickey, whose criticism of the handling of the case is the subject of a sidebar in today's edition of the Johnstown Tribune Democrat.

Under state law, as described on the Humane Society of Cambria County Web site, animal cruelty is "intentional cruelty, or abuse, is knowingly depriving an animal of food, water, shelter, or veterinary care or maliciously torturing, maiming, mutilating, or killing an animal."

Hickey and other animal welfare activists have raised a number of questions that point up the need for a statewide discussion among law enforcement authorities and animal advocates on how to better protect pets from abuse and neglect:

1. Why wasn't an official complaint of animal cruelty filed with the Humane Society of Cambria County?

2. Why don't the local police and humane societies work cooperatively to respond swiftly to reports of animal abuse? The video clearly showed local police had no understanding of the state animal cruelty laws or the role of the various authorities.

3. What is, or should be, the role of the Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement in animal welfare beyond licensed kennels? The bureau is charged with enforcing the state dog law as it applies to licensed kennels, but it also is charged with enforcing state law as it applies to individual dog owners required to have proof of dog license and rabies vaccinations. And it is the state agency whose primary mission is promoting animal welfare.

In an email to Jessie Smith, special deputy secretary for the Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement, Philadelphia animal welfare advocate Debbie Sanville writes:

"How do you reconcile Dog Law’s responsibility to the dogs in Johnstown with its failure to aid them? Are you prepared to permanently change the paradigms of Dog Law’s procedures and protocols so they support and defend not only the letter but also the spirit of the laws protecting dogs? "