From the newspaper today...

http://www.mcall.com/news/nationworl...,4118519.story
themorningcall.com
Hundreds of sick, dying cats found in western Pa. shelter

By Dan Nephin

Of The Associated Press

March 15, 2008

Hundreds of sick and dying cats were retrieved Friday from a western Pennsylvania animal sanctuary after an undercover investigation by a former humane officer said it had become a ''slow-kill shelter.''

Humane officials and volunteers said it could take at least until today to remove all the animals from the secluded 29-acre property known as Tiger Ranch Farm, about 20 miles northwest of Pittsburgh.

Six hundred to 700 cats were on the property and hundreds, perhaps thousands, of dead ones were believed buried on the land, said Howard Nelson, director of the Philadelphia-based Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which organized the raid.

''It's billed as a sanctuary, but no one person can take care of 750 cats,'' he said.

Owner Linda Bruno apparently meant well, but lost track of the needs of the animals she had hoarded for years, Nelson said.

''I found her to be in denial of the condition of the cats,'' he said.

Bruno, also known as Linn Marie, 45, was arraigned Friday on 13 counts of animal cruelty and neglect, but more charges were expected as subsequent cases were documented, Nelson said. It was not immediately clear if she had an attorney. She was being held in the Allegheny County Jail, unable to post $50,000 bond.

Animal control agents and sheriff's deputies arrived about 7 p.m. Thursday. By midday Friday, at least a dozen cats had been euthanized and more than 400 had to be medicated due to contagious diseases, officials said.

The SPCA got a search warrant after a seven-month undercover investigation in which Deborah Urmann, a former humane officer from Butler County who worked for Bruno once a week as a volunteer, recorded the operations using a button camera purchased over the Internet.

''She claims she's a no-kill shelter, but really she's a slow-kill shelter,'' Urmann said.

Urmann compiled up to 11/2 hours of video of the conditions in the fall.

Nelson said the animals were found in various places and conditions all over the property. Besides the hundreds of cats, Bruno had several dogs, several horses, a chicken and a goat.