Pennsylvania: Heather Risko, faces 50 counts of animal cruelty after leaving cats to die

PENNSYLVANIA -- A Brookline woman appeared to be stunned and shaken as she was led, handcuffed, to a police car Monday that would take her Downtown to be charged with 50 counts of animal cruelty.

“I’m sorry,” Heather Risko, 42, said to reporters before she was driven away.

The sounds of starving cats inside her home prompted neighbors to call Pittsburgh police two weeks ago. 

Thirty-nine emaciated cats and 11 dead kittens were found inside her home in the 600 block of Elmbank Street by police Officers Christine Luffey and Tracy Schweitzer and volunteers from the Homeless Cat Management Team.

“It was never my client’s intent to hurt any animals,” said her attorney, Phillip DiLucente. “She wanted to care for the cats,” but the situation “just got away from her.”

He noted that Mrs. Risko was cooperating with police and had turned herself in Monday morning at the Zone 3 police station in Allentown. An arrest warrant also has been issued for her estranged husband, Michael G. Risko, 37.

Most of the cats have been placed in foster homes provided by the Homeless Cat Management Team, an all-volunteer, nonprofit group. Five of the cats are at the Animal Friends shelter in Ohio Township. Most of the cats were spayed and neutered last weekend.

The 11 dead kittens came from two litters, according to information Officer Luffey wrote in a criminal complaint.

A necropsy conducted on one of the kittens by Animal Friends veterinarian Tegan Fuller indicates it starved, its gastrointestinal tract “completely empty.”

For the dead kittens, Mrs. Risko is charged with 11 counts of misdemeanor animal cruelty. For the surviving cats, she is charged with 39 summary offenses of animal cruelty.

“The inside of the house was beyond deplorable. ... Animal waste was found everywhere, including the kitchen sink and bathtub,” according to the criminal complaint. For that Mrs. Risko is charged with “harboring a nuisance,” which includes unsanitary conditions.

She also is charged with one count of failing to provide a rabies vaccination and one count of violating the city ordinance that prohibits having more than five dogs or cats in a residence.

“Quite frankly, there are psychological issues,” said Mr. DiLucente, who indicated his client is getting counseling. He said she has not been back to her house in the past week because “she has been getting death threats on social media” and she is fearful about “so many animal activists in her home.”

Neighbors told police that no one had lived in the house since late March, but Mr. DiLucente said Mrs. Risko had lived there until shortly before police removed the cats.

Shifts of volunteers are caring for 11 cats at the Homeless Cat Management Team clinic in Tarentum, said Tarra Provident, a volunteer and Brookline resident who helped catch and transport the cats. Seven volunteers are fostering cats in their homes.

She is fostering 6-month-old cats she calls Tango and Cash. Each weighs just three pounds.

“It seems the older male cats are the most fearful of people,” Ms. Provident said. “Quite a few are skittish. It will take a little time” to socialize them.

HCMT’s main mission is spaying and neutering cats, including feral cats. Donations are needed to help with the care of the emaciated cats and can be sent to the organization at P.O. Box 100203, Pittsburgh 15233.

(Post Gazette - May 16, 2016)