SPCA hit hard by Valley offenders
Nonprofit cutting back after large number of intakes last two years.
The nonprofit that seized dozens of horses, goats and other creatures from two convicted Lehigh Valley animal abusers has been brought to its knees by a near-record number of large animal intakes over the past two years.
The rescue cases are driving up costs and helping force cutbacks in the coverage area of the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which is caring for the menagerie that also includes miniature donkeys and cows while lawsuits wind their way through court.
The state SCPA took in 72
large animals in 2018 and 87 in 2017. Those numbers are substantially higher than 2016, 2015 and 2014, when the organization seized 12, 28 and 13 large animals, respectively.
The recent spikes are largely due to two people: One, Derbe “Skip” Eckhart, kept dogs, cats and horses at Hidden Hill farm in Heidelberg Township, which he rented along with a property across the street, and his Almost Heaven Kennel on Chestnut Street in Upper Milford. The other, Jahjah Melhem, kept mostly rescued animals at Heaven on Earth Farm in Bethlehem Township.
Eckhart and Melhem have had a “tremendous impact” on the organization, said CEO Julie Klim. Her organization has cared for their animals, visited their properties multiple times and fought them in protracted court battles.
“All those things combined have kind of brought us to our knees this year and last,” Klim said.
Last month, the organization housed more than a dozen of Melhem’s animals at one of its five locations in Danville, Montour County. They included two cows who came to Danville as calves last year after they were taken from Melhem’s sanctuary. A third cow, originally Eckhart’s, was in an adjoining corral. Some of those animals have since gone to other rescue organizations, while others are still in the SPCA’s care.
About a dozen other farm animals taken from Melhem in December were there nosing hay too. Two of the horses were so emaciated that their ribs were visible and their hair was matted. Many of Melhem’s animals, which range from full-sized to miniature horses and even an alpaca, had cracked and overgrown hooves.
Dozens of charges of animal abuse and neglect, including two felony counts of aggravated animal cruelty, were filed against Melhem on Dec. 12. The SPCA first raided his Bethlehem Township property in November 2017, when they confiscated 30 of his animals, including goats and calves. They continued to inspect the property for months and found more problems. A week after Melhem was charged, the SPCA confiscated 118 animals he was keeping in Centre County.
Eckhart was charged a year ago with dozens of counts of animal cruelty, including several felonies. Prosecutors say he neglected numerous dogs, cats and other animals at Hidden Hill farm in Heidelberg Township, which he rented, and his Almost Heaven kennel on Chestnut Street in Upper Milford. His trial is scheduled to begin Jan. 28.
The Lehigh Valley is responsible for 17 of the large animals in 2017 and 46 in 2018. Spokeswoman Gillian Kocher said that between Melhem and Eckhart alone, the SPCA spent about $250,000 more than they’d anticipated in the Lehigh Valley this year. Donations from the area amount to about $32,000, she said.
The organization has a budget of $10.8 million.
The large animals have a lot of needs, such as special vets.
Routine care is also more complicated; when the organization takes in cats and dogs, it can rely on volunteers to help take care of them. But with the larger animals, it’s trickier, especially if they’ve been abused and have health issues.
“It hits us at every point along our caregiving spectrum,” Klim said.
Sometimes the organization can send the animals to foster care, but it’s still on the hook for their food and medical care until they find a permanent home, which can’t happen until court cases conclude. Offenders may be ordered to pay restitution, but are often unable to pay, Kocher said. Additionally, any fines leveled against them in sentencing go to the municipalities that the crime was committed in, not the SPCA.
The animals are sometimes taken from the Lehigh Valley to Danville, about an hour and 45 minutes away.
Shay Martin, who works at Danville, remembers a calmer time, when maybe five horses would stay in corrals at the site.
But lately — for more than a year — there are more likely to be 15 to 20 horses there.
“It’s been a crazy year for our guys, with all the humane law enforcement intakes,” Martin said.
Once they had so many goats they had to turn an outdoor dog run into a playground for the hoofed animals.
The cost of caring for the Lehigh Valley’s animals combined with other factors forced the organization to reduce the number of counties it serves from 23 to 18. Officials decided not to take on new cases from Huntingdon, Centre, Tioga, Juniata and Berks counties, a decision that went into effect in early December.
Nicole Wilson, the SPCA’s director of Humane Law Enforcement, said the decision was driven by how far the counties are and whether there are other agencies that can take over humane duties there.
In Berks County, for example, local police can still respond to animal rescues. There’s also a local shelter with humane officers that can respond and house any abused or neglected animals, she said.
“It’s going to be up to the communities to decide what’s important to them and what they want to do about it,” Wilson said.
She said the SPCA would be open to returning to the counties if residents give them more financial support.
The organization relies on donations and doesn’t receive state funding.
Wilson attributes the increase in intakes to a growing recognition that animal abuse and neglect are wrong.
Wilson, who has been in the sheltering business for 20 years, said people started to become more aware of the issue when shows like “Animal Cops” cropped up.
“People started seeing more about the abuse and neglect side of animals and so that raised concerns and sensibilities surrounding the potential neglect and cruelty issues,” she said. “You see those types of issues and you start realizing that it is our responsibility as citizens to call and report concerns.”
The SPCA isn’t the only organization that responds to animal complaints. The Lehigh County Humane Society also responded to several high-profile cases in 2018: Officials took in 65 neglected beagles and responded to a home in Macungie where exotic animals were being kept in filthy conditions. It took in 2,520 animals last year, more than 2017 (2,425) and 2016 (2,053).
Klim, from the SPCA, said she hopes the large-scale large animal rescues are more unique than a trend.
“I think the large animal problem is going to continue, and we don’t have the capacity for it.”
She said that the number of sanctuaries willing to take in large rescued animals is shrinking, and the ones that exist are filling up.
The SPCA is collecting donations from the Lehigh Valley at https://www.pspca.org/donate/lehighvalley.