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Mar 18, 2008 11:59 pm US/Eastern
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Undercover Video Prompted Tiger Ranch Raid
FRAZER (KDKA) ―
There's more fallout from a raid on a local animal sanctuary where humane officers found hundreds of cats living in alleged deplorable conditions.
An undercover worker shot video inside the Tiger Ranch in Frazer and showed it to a judge which led to last week's raid.
Hundreds of diseased cats, many suffering from contagious feline virus, were all captured on video by woman working undercover with a hidden camera to expose the alleged neglect at the Tiger Ranch. The video is now part of the public record.
The hidden camera even found two freezers on Linda Bruno's 29-acre property with the carcasses of an estimated 100 cats.
Carolyn DeForest, a psychologist and volunteer with Voices for Animals, was one of the rescuers involved in the raid. She watched the video with KDKA's Ralph Iannotti.
"What we've seen is that she just puts them in a room and leaves them there to die. It's a slow kill process, rather than a no kill sanctuary," she said.
Bruno took KDKA Investigator Andy Sheehan on an exclusive tour of her facility, still defending her operation.
"I am giving these cats a chance that they otherwise wouldn't have. I am giving them a second and third chance of life," she said.
"There is absolutely no one who has any concern for living creatures could look at that place, and say, 'Oh, gee, this is fine, it passes the test,' " DeForest said.
The raid on the animal sanctuary was supposed to happen on Saturday but DeForest says the rescuers moved it up a day and a half because someone tipped Bruno off about what the ASPCA was planning.
Bruno now faces 13 counts of animal cruelty. The investigation continues.
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