3 Dogs Found Dead At Westmoreland Co. Home, Pet Owner Charged
YUKON (KDKA) -- Angry neighbors confronted humane agents who they say didn't do enough to save three dogs, at least four cats and a snake living in a filthy home on Highway Street in Yukon, Westmoreland County.
"You could hear the dog crying all night long," Cy Kohler, a neighbor, said. " … The dog's crying all night long. How do you feel?"
Humane agents were first called to the home in November after neighbors spotted a malnourished pit bull on a short chain living on a mattress on the front porch.
When humane agents came back in December, the dog was gone and there was barking inside.
On Monday, neighbors found two dead pit bulls and a Chihuahua inside the home. They snapped photos too graphic for publication.
House owner Bruce Gray was renting the house to his nephew, Bruce Swank, who shared the house with his father-in-law. The two who lived there are expected to face seven counts each of cruelty to animals.
"I feel terrible what happened – I seriously am," Bruce Swank said. "I mean, it's just with the family problems. My daughter going down to Children's when she's just a newborn. It was tough on me. I was stuck down at Children's with no money and I had no other way of getting around."
Swank later admitted to humane agents that he came to the home Monday night to bury the dogs' remains and file the locks. He left in tears.
Humane agents had to enter the home through an open upstairs window. Inside, they found animal feces and in the backyard, a dog skull and collar.
"At some point when the health deteriorated down to nothing, they needed medical attention and they didn't get anything – in addition to food, water, they didn't get nothing," Ronald Smith, a humane agent, said of the pets.
The four cats weren't inside the home when agents went inside. If found, they will be taken to the Humane Society.
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