Pennsylvania sets no numeric hoarding limit, but the state's animal-neglect law makes it a crime to keep animals without providing each one adequate food, water, clean shelter, and veterinary care. Overcrowded 'hoarding' situations are prosecuted as neglect countywide.
There is no Lehigh County or statewide cap on animal numbers labeled 'hoarding.' Instead, hoarding is enforced through Pennsylvania's neglect statute (18 Pa.C.S. §5532), strengthened by Libre's Law in 2017. A person commits neglect by failing to provide any animal in their care with necessary sustenance and potable water, clean and sanitary shelter with weather protection, and necessary veterinary care. When many animals are kept in conditions that fail these standards, charges follow. Humane society police officers, local police, and Pennsylvania SPCA agents enforce the law; animals can be seized and the owner ordered to pay costs of care.
Neglect is a summary offense, rising to a third-degree misdemeanor if it causes bodily injury or imminent risk of serious injury; courts may bar the offender from owning animals and order restitution.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
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See how Lehigh County's animal hoarding rules stack up against other locations.
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