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Two Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania women are facing animal cruelty charges after abandoning two dogs in a crate outside Hillside SPCA after the shelter had closed for the night. State police said the incident happened Monday night, September 29, 2026, along SPCA Road in North Manheim Township.
According to police, the women stopped their vehicle, unloaded a crate containing two pit bull mixed-breed dogs with a tarp thrown over the top, and drove off.
Hillside SPCA staff member Weist said that when she arrived at the shelter later that night, the dogs were in decent physical shape but were hungry and agitated from being confined together in the crate, their leashes tangled around them.
“Dumping an animal anywhere is not only illegal, but irresponsible and dangerous,” Weist said, adding that people need to understand that taking on a pet is a lifetime commitment.
She acknowledged that emergencies do happen, but said anyone who needs to give up a dog should instead get on a shelter’s waiting list or find someone in person or online willing to safely take the animal.
Hillside is now caring for and vaccinating the two abandoned dogs and plans to place them for adoption soon.
Weist pointed to the case as an example of the strain local shelters are under right now, describing the broader animal welfare situation as being in full-blown crisis mode, with new intakes arriving nearly as fast as dogs and cats are adopted out.
My thoughts: What stands out is the method here, not a surrender form, not a conversation with staff, but a crate left outside after hours with a tarp thrown over it and the people driving off before anyone could even see them.
Whatever pressure or crisis led to that decision, there was a legal and far safer option sitting right there: a waiting list at the same shelter.
Weist’s comment about the broader crisis is also worth sitting with, because this isn’t just one isolated incident for Hillside, it’s one more case landing on an organization that’s already describing itself as stretched thin.
Source: Yahoo News, based on reporting from the Republican Herald and a statement from Hillside SPCA
