Tiger Ranch Owner Charged Again With Hundreds Of Counts

Animal Cruelty Alleged After Raid Finds Dead, Ill Cats

POSTED: 8:25 am EDT April 8, 2008
UPDATED: 6:25 pm EDT April 8, 2008

GIBSONIA, Pa. -- The case is not closed yet against the owner of a Frazer Township animal sanctuary where hundreds of sick and dead cats were found during a raid.

District Judge Suzanne Blaschak dismissed animal cruelty charges last week against Tiger Ranch owner Linda Bruno, but the prosecutors re-filed the charges on Tuesday in a more detailed format.

Bruno, 45, of Tarentum, pleaded not guilty and said she cared for cats that no one else wanted.

"I got to tell you, I think it's a bold-faced lie," she said of the charges. "We've had many inspections, surprise inspections, and never in 14 and a half years have any humane agents ever had an issue."

More than 100 dead cats were found inside freezers during a raid at the Tiger Ranch in March, and many more were found in need of medical care elsewhere on the grounds, according to the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Bruno said she kept the cats in the freezer because the cold ground prevented her from burying them.

"What else are you going to do with a cat in the winter that dies?" said Bruno's attorney, Ron Valasek. "You take it to your vet, your vet is going to throw it in a garbage bag and take it to a landfill."

The cats found alive during the Tiger Ranch raid were taken to a makeshift hospital in Clarion County for treatment.

The judge told prosecutors that she originally dismissed the charges because they didn't provide enough detailed evidence. The refiled charges were more specific about what prosecutors believe happened at the Tiger Ranch.

Undercover video that was shot at Tiger Ranch and obtained by Team 4 shows dead and apparently sick cats throughout the property.

Bruno said somebody planted the animals in specific locations and moved them from the medical treatment area to another part of the compound before the video was shot.

A preliminary hearing is set for April 17. Bruno is free on the condition that she not contact two people who turned her in to authorities and not have contact with any animals.

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