Those caring for victims of animal cruelty received a large support to their work to appropriately care for the animals in their possession seized from animal cruelty cases with the Costs of Care of Seized Animals Act, 18 P.S. Section 30.1 (2013) (hereinafter Costs of Care Act). As we approach a decade of the law in practice, lessons have been learned as to how effectively use this tool to keep perpetrators of animal abuse responsible for the costs of their actions.

Animals are strictly property under Pennsylvania law, even as they are uniquely unqualified to be treated as objects. Their existence as living, breathing beings means that treating them the same as a table or as an automobile is problematic on many fronts, not the least of which is logistics. Unlike other property seized from the commission of a crime, animals cannot be left on a shelf until they are again needed for court. They require physical, medical, and behavioral care that is expensive to provide. This includes appropriate housing as well as personnel training that varies not only with needs of the individual animal, but also the species of that animal. Compound those issues with the number and variety of animals seized in a large animal cruelty case, numbers that can reach triple digits, and multiply that by the time it takes a typical criminal case to work through the system, and the impact on the capacity and resources of a nonprofit animal shelter can be overwhelmingly palpable. This is especially true given these organizations receive no funds from the state despite its role in enforcing a state law. They are often wholly dependent on donor contributions. They have physically limited room. There are only so many dog crates that can fit in a building, for example.