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Case #4583 Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Hoarding - 96 cats, 9 dogs, others
Hatfield, PA (US)Incident Date: Saturday, Aug 31, 2002
County: Montgomery
Disposition: Convicted
Defendant/Suspect: Janet Jones
Case Updates: 3 update(s) available
SPCA authorities seized 96 cats� nine dogs� several hamsters� rats and a turtle during a raid of Jones' home in September 2002.
Jones was running a nonprofit company� Animal Orphans Inc.� out of her house� in which she would take abandoned and sometimes feral animals onto her property and keep them.
Jill Boyer� who volunteered with Animal Orphans and has known Jones for nine years� said Jones used to go out seeking feral cats living in colonies in the area.
"She went out and fed them� trapped them and then spayed and neutered them�" Boyer said. "There's an area in her back yard she kept them in."
Boyer said feral cats live in groups in industrial parks and near apartment buildings.
Jones was cited with 105 summary offenses of animal cruelty in December 2002. In November 2003� a county judge ordered Jones to pay $45�600 to the county SPCA for sheltering and maintaining the animals taken from her home.
Jones appealed the sentence to the state Superior Court� which denied her in January. Jones then appealed to the state Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court can take four to six months� sometimes as long as a year� before deciding to hear an appeal� according to a spokeswoman for the court.
Davies said the SPCA has spent an estimated $267�000 to keep the animals taken from Jones.
"That's at $5 a day for each animal�" Davies said.
Boyer said Jones loves animals and took in feral cats to make sure they weren't euthanized.
"I don't think she did anything wrong�" Boyer said.
Boyer said once Jones was driving and spotted a cat in the middle of the road.
Jones pulled the vehicle over and picked up the cat and carried it on her lap in the vehicle. At one point during the drive� Jones discovered the cat was still breathing� Boyer said.
Boyer said Jones cleaned up the cat and had it neutered.
"The cat lived with her in her house�" Boyer said. "She's a caring� loving animal person. She's not a hoarder."
Boyer said Animal Orphans Inc. is running on a very limited basis while Jones' case is on appeal.
Officers of the SPCA testified in court in 2003 they encountered an overwhelming odor of urine inside the home and said walls were stained with urine.
Feces coated other surfaces of the house� according to prosecutors. Some of the animals were emaciated and had respiratory infections� according to testimony.
Dead animals were discovered stored in plastic bags in Jones' freezer and refrigerator� according to testimony.
"The bodies in the freezer� right above where she has food� that does go to sanitariness�" said Assistant District Attorney Samantha Cauffman� who was prosecuting the case at the time.
The carcass of another animal was discovered under an entertainment center� testimony revealed.
No decision has been reached on whether the Pennsylvania Supreme Court will hear Jones' appeal. While Jones� of the 2100 block of Overbrook Road� exhausts her appeals� the animals taken from her home are stuck at three SPCA sites in Montgomery County.
"We have about 70 to 75 left�" said Edward Davies� operations manager with the Montgomery County SPCA. "Many of the animals we got were very sick and our veterinarian felt they were suffering� or they passed on their own."
Davies said SPCA vets euthanized some sick animals when they first arrived after the raid. He said no animals have been put down recently.
Case UpdatesThe U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear a Hatfield Borough woman's appeal of more than 100 counts of cruelty to animals lodged against her.
After being convicted in 2002� Jones filed appeals at every level� though none were heard. Neither Jones nor her lawyer� Kevin Sommar� returned a call for comment.
Now that the case is no longer on appeal� the animals may now be adopted� Bonanni said. After three years� there are 59 cats and three dogs� though not all are suitable for adoption� she said. "The tragic thing is that all of the appeals have made it so that none of the animals could be adopted�" said Montgomery County District District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr. Many of the cats were ill and some have neurological difficulties� said Bonanni. Some were euthanized after they were seized.
For years� Jones ran Animal Orphans� a pet placement service that had arrangements with pet stores to help find homes for lost cats and dogs homes. At the time� township officials said that practice amounted to running a kennel in a zoning district that prohibited it.
Prosecutors and police painted a grim picture of Jones' residence� describing an overbearing smell coming from a floor covered with feces and walls splattered with cat urine. | Source: The Reporter - December 11, 2005
Update posted on Dec 11, 2005 - 6:52AM |
The three-year legal battle over 59 grossly neglected cats and three dogs may have been the easy part. With the U.S. Supreme Court turning a deaf ear to Hatfield resident Janet Jones' appeal to reclaim the pets she'd forfeited on 105 counts of animal cruelty back in 2002, the Montgomery County SPCA must now find a home for every animal.
Officials originally seized 96 cats and nine dogs from the Jones home, but several died and a few had to be euthanized. The SPCA has been caring for the remaining animals, which are finally free to enjoy life with new, loving owners.
"We're not used to dealing with 59 cats all at one time," said the SPCA's humane educator Kim Bonanni. "We want to get them into homes as quickly as possible. But in addition, we not only have these 59 cats in the Janet Jones case, we obviously still have other unwanted animals coming through the doors."
All of the cats are healthy, but some have medical issues that will make placing them difficult, Bonanni noted. "Some of the cats have feline leukemia and feline AIDS," she said. "But they are (without symptoms) and very friendly, and can stay healthy for years." The cats that aren't positive for feline leukemia and feline AIDS will be relatively easy to find homes for, she predicted.
"But our biggest appeal is for the cats that are positive, because it is a contagious disease," Bonanni said. "Part of the problem is that these cats have to be kept apart from the general population, because we can't put other cats at risk. So unless people come in specifically for the positive cats, it's going to be a little harder in that way, too." Rounding out the problematically wide-ranging mix of cats are the Jones' ferals. Feral means "gone wild," Bonanni explained. Feral cats can be the offspring of stray or abandoned domestic cats who have reverted to a wild state. They can also be the offspring of feral cats who have lived in a wild state for generations. While not always easily welcomed into cat-loving homes, feral cats are adoptable, Bonanni noted.
"The ferals here are used to the routine, but they're not cats you can pick and who will want to cuddle with you," she said. The desirable home for both positive and feral cats is one that is currently feline-free, Bonanni added. "We're hoping those people will show an interest in helping us out by taking in these cats," she said. "We want to find homes for everybody." | Source: Times Herald News - December 10, 2005
Update posted on Dec 9, 2005 - 10:32PM |
Hatfield Township's Janet Jones, who has been fighting animal cruelty convictions since 2002, is thinking about taking her case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Friends of Jones, 55, have painted her as a cat lover who ran a nonprofit organization called Animal Orphans Inc. to provide food, shelter and veterinary care to abandoned animals.
But officials with the Montgomery County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals raided Jones' Overbrook Road home in the fall of 2002 and said they found 96 cats and nine dogs living in filthy conditions. The society seized the animals, many of which had feline AIDS or leukemia, and charged Jones with animal cruelty. A local district justice found her guilty that December 2002.
She has been unsuccessfully appealing the convictions ever since and the animals have remained with the SPCA, where they will stay until Jones wins on appeal, gives up the fight or runs out of venues.
"We're hopeful we'll be able to start moving these guys and moving on with our work here," said Carmen Ronio, SPCA director. "But it doesn't hurt us to shelter them. If we have to endure it longer we will."
Jones has already taken her case to Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas, where she was found guilty a second time in a new trial, and the Pennsylvania Superior Court, which heard the case in September of 2004 and upheld the lower court's ruling. She then appealed to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court which, this month, declined to hear the case.
Of the original 96 cats and nine dogs, Ronio said about 75 cats and four dogs are left. Some of the animals were very sick when the SPCA seized them, he stated.
The court awarded the SPCA $45,000 to compensate society for their care but Jones has not paid it due to the ongoing appeals, said Ronio, who estimated his organization has spent upwards of $250,000 caring for the animals over the last 2-1/2 years.
About one-third of the cats have feline AIDS or leukemia and another third are feral, which means they can not be house pets but could be placed with rescue groups or be used on farms for rodent control.
"The ones with feline AIDS or leukemia are doing well, but they will be the most difficult to place because there's not a lot of interest in them," Ronio said.
On Tuesday, each side accused the other of slowing the process down. Ronio said as long as Jones keeps appealing, the animals must stay at the SPCA because she could still win them back on appeal.
"I remember her wanting us to sign the animals back over to her," he said. "Why would we consider giving them away? We have an adoption facility here."
Jones has 90 days from June 2 to file her appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court. Efforts to reach her Tuesday were unsuccessful. | Source: PhillyBurbs.com - June 15, 2005
Update posted on Jun 15, 2005 - 6:58AM |
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