Delco prison boss addresses council about toilet woes

MEDIA >> Delaware County Council will create a committee to look at the issue of stray animals in the county after a group of citizens asked them for help at Wednesday’s meeting.

“Can you imagine being cold, hungry, scared, abandoned and suffering?” said Russell ‘Wolf’ Harper, the Ridley Township resident and humane officer with the Justice Rescue animal rescue group. “There are many animals in Delaware County who feel this every day.

“We’re asking for the county leaders to get involved and have intervention immediately,” he said. “This needs to be a priority within our community. The animals and the citizens need you now to get involved.”

The issue is there is no one central stray hold facility licensed by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture after the Providence Animal Center, the former Delaware County SPCA, changed their mission about two years ago.

Since then, the county formed the Delaware County Animal Protection Board to find alternatives. One was contracting with the then Chester County SPCA.

County Council Chairman John McBlain said the county spent around $944,000 paying for alternatives to care for Delco’s stray animals.

He also said county officials had asked the Chester County SPCA to open a satellite facility here in Delco to make it easier. However, those negotiations fell apart.

Then, he said, they looked to a grassroots animal welfare group, Delco Dogs, which was unable to manage the financial burden of running such a facility. So, after Harper and other animal lovers attended Wednesday’s meeting, council has agreed to create a committee to potentially create a request for proposals from organizations or individuals who would operate a licensed stray hold facility.

McBlain said the county even has a facility at Smedley Park in Springfield that could be rented at low cost.