Apr
26
2008
1:06pm
Featuring:
I'm so happy that I have found loving neighbors. We have lived here for well into our 3rd year and just now discovered anothe r neighbor who walks their cat! They seem very nice and loving. The best part is, Nukus was not afraid of them so he was calm as well! They told me that every day when they go for their walk, they come up to our window and talk to our kitties because they seem to be so sweet. I let them hold Greebo and he just fell in love! He's got the making of being a therapy cat if on… read more
Posted: 2 months ago - 2 months ago
Cat shelter operator ordered to stand trial Wednesday, May 07, 2008 By Jim McKinnon, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Andy Starnes/Post-Gazette Linda Bruno, owner of the Tiger Ranch cat sanctuary in Frazer, in March. The operat… Read More
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
By Jim McKinnon, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Andy Starnes/Post-Gazette
Linda Bruno, owner of the Tiger Ranch cat sanctuary in Frazer, in March.
The operator of the Tiger Ranch cat shelter yesterday was ordered to stand trial on hundreds of animal abuse charges stemming from a raid on her Frazer farm.
Linda Bruno, 45, remains free on bond while awaiting trial on 208 misdemeanor counts of cruelty to animals, and 385 summary counts of cruelty.
District Judge Suzanne Blaschak, who presided at a three-day preliminary hearing at the Allegheny County Courthouse, Downtown, ordered Ms. Bruno to adhere to bond conditions that prohibit her from being around animals.
Ms. Bruno, 45, whose current legal name is Lin Marie, was arrested March 13 after a raid on her 29-acre property in Frazer by police, Allegheny County sheriff's deputies and representatives from the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and its national counterpart.
About 400 feral, sick and abandoned cats were seized along with a half-dozen horses, nine chickens and a goat.
Veterinarian Becky L. Morrow testified yesterday about the morbid physical condition of more than 100 cats that had to be euthanized. She also testified that necropsies on dozens of frozen, dead cats found on the property showed they also suffered from the same and similar symptoms that made the others ill.
For the better part of four hours, Dr. Morrow spelled out diagnoses by her and other veterinarians of the sick animals.
The most fatal problem found in the cats was a deadly virus, she said. Other maladies included dehydration, ulcers on their tongues and limbs, unexplained lesions on their necks, severe periodontal disease and upper respiratory disease.
About 50 onlookers attended the hearing.
Afterward, defense attorney R.E. Valasek said, "This is the first serious attempt to shut down a no-kill facility. That's what this is."
In his closing argument he said the prosecution failed to show that Ms. Bruno's case fit the required criteria to be considered torture.
"The court has a compilation of serious diseases with no connectivity to [Ms. Bruno]," Mr. Valasek argued. "The only question is how that cat reached its final stage."
Only one of the animals seized showed any signs that it had been treated for pain, said the prosecutor, Assistant District Attorney Deborah Jugan.
"In the absence of duty, care, food, water and helping the animals get to it ... this rises to the level of torturous conduct," Judge Blaschak ruled.
Three counts were dismissed for lack of evidence.
Ms. Bruno will be formally arraigned July 9. Read Less
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