A state SPCA official was at a camper in Hop Bottom Tuesday afternoon, removing several dogs from a camper neighbors called filthy.
Neighbors said several dogs were being kept in disgusting conditions, often left without proper food and water. They said one dog even died and was left inside the camper until a state official with the SPCA came to collect the animals.
"The dogs inside were covered in feces, skinny and there was a dead dog that they were starting to chew upon," said Dawne Frisbie of Hop Bottom.
She owns the house next to the camper and said the filth had been a problem for years. She said the dogs are owned by an elderly man who lived in the camper and was unable to care for them. At one time she said there were a dozen crowded in the camper. Frisbie started a campaign on the social network Facebook to have something done about it.
"Finally from a campaign on Facebook and getting multiple people, hundreds of people to look into it and share it and contact the news and contact the PSPCA in Philadelphia, they finally came up today and rescued them," said Frisbie.
The police chief in Hop Bottom said the dog owner did nothing wrong. In fact, last week when he was hospitalized, the chief said the man called them, asked for them to care for his animals and arranged to turn custody over to the SPCA.
The chief said the dogs are now in Philadelphia in the SPCA's care.
"It's a relief off my shoulders, let me tell you. Those poor animals, it's just unbearable," said Christine Castorina of Nicholson.
"It's a major relief to know maybe now they'll be evaluated, maybe they'll be up for adoption, maybe they'll get good homes, maybe they won't have to live like that anymore," said Frisbie.
Hop Bottom officials said the dog owner was still hospitalized Tuesday night in poor physical condition.