{"id":242795,"date":"2026-07-14T02:56:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T02:56:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/242795\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T02:56:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T02:56:15","slug":"over-72k-animal-abuse-cases-since-2017-in-pennsylvania-heres-where-it-happens-most","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/242795\/","title":{"rendered":"Over 72K animal abuse cases since 2017 in Pennsylvania. Here\u2019s where it happens most"},"content":{"rendered":"

HARRISBURG, Pa. (WTAJ) \u2014\u00a0Since\u00a0Libre’s Law went into effect in 2017, over 72,000\u00a0animal abuse offenses have been filed statewide.<\/p>\n

In a review of cases from Aug. 2017 to Dec. 2025,\u00a063% of cases were for neglect of animal(s).\u00a027% of cases were for cruelty to an animal and 10% of cases were for aggravated cruelty to an animal.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Almost 50% of defendants accused of animal cruelty fall into the age ranges of 26-35 or 46-65. 52% of defendants in these cases are men.<\/p>\n

Of the 10 counties with the highest number of animal abuse cases, Allegheny County makes up an alarming 14% of state-wide cases. Lancaster County, where the Boston Terrier puppy who inspired this law was found, makes up 4% of cases.<\/p>\n

Libre’s Law is an anti-cruelty law that strengthened the protection of animals, and increased the penalties for animal abuse in the state including making aggravated assault of an animal a felony.<\/p>\n

Get the latest news, weather forecasts and sports stories delivered straight to your inbox! Sign up for our newsletters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you suspect animal abuse and would like to report it, you should contact your local humane society or local police station. You can find your local humane society police officer here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

\u00a0For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WTAJ | Your News Leader.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HARRISBURG, Pa. (WTAJ) \u2014\u00a0Since\u00a0Libre’s Law went into effect in 2017, over 72,000\u00a0animal abuse offenses have been filed statewide.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":242796,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4862,894,6898,28,30,29],"class_list":["post-242795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-aggravated-assault","tag-allegheny-county","tag-animal-abuse","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242795\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}