Pennsylvania made animal hoarding a specific crime in 2023. A person who houses more animals than they can properly care for, causing bodily injury or death, commits an offense under Title 18. Chester County SPCA and Health Department enforce animal-welfare and rabies rules.
Animal hoarding is addressed by state criminal law rather than a county ordinance. Pennsylvania's animal hoarding statute (18 Pa.C.S. 5533), effective 2023, makes it an offense for a person to keep a number of animals they cannot adequately provide for, resulting in the animals' bodily injury, illness, or death. It builds on the state's broader animal-cruelty and neglect provisions in 18 Pa.C.S. Chapter 55. In Chester County, cruelty and neglect complaints are investigated by the Chester County SPCA humane officers and local police. The county Health Department's §202 rules add a public-health layer, since large uncontrolled animal populations raise rabies and zoonotic-disease risk, and the Department may quarantine or order testing of affected animals.
Animal hoarding is graded as a summary offense or misdemeanor depending on severity; penalties include fines, forfeiture of the animals, and a court-ordered bar on future ownership.
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See how Chester County's animal hoarding rules stack up against other locations.
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