Oct 24, 2019 4 min read

A humane officer said the scene at a Hopewell Township farm where 92 dogs were living in inhumane conditions was among the worst she has ever seen.

Three South Park women were charged in connection with mistreatment of the animals on Wednesday after an investigation that took more than a year to complete.

Charlotte Leslie Binakonsky, 64, Lucy Ann Binakonsky, 30, and Emily David Binakonsky, 26, all of 1152 Cochrans Mill Road, South Park Township, were charged with five counts of aggravated cruelty to animals, a felony. They also face additional misdemeanor charges of cruelty to animals and neglect of animals.

C.J. Blackwell, an attorney for the family, said Thursday his office had just started reviewing the cases, which they’d received earlier in the day.

“I can tell you that our clients are shocked by the allegations which have been levied against them,” he added. “They’re preparing to defend against the claims made. We look forward to working with the district attorney’s office and law enforcement in these matters.”

Blackwell also stressed that it was important not to jump to conclusions about his clients: “We’re asking for the public to withhold judgment until the facts are presented and due process has run its course.”

Social media posts alerted police to the Binakonsky/Seddon farm last summer at 41-43 Hamilton Acres Lane in Hopewell Township. The property is registered to Charlotte Binakonsky and her brother.

Police said nearby residents had found stray German shorthaired pointers.

State troopers went to the farm the evening of Aug. 21, 2018, and saw Lucy and Emily Binakonsky removing dogs from one of the homes on the property.

District Attorney Gene Vittone called a press conference Thursday to discuss the case. There, humane Officer Cathy Cunningham described a horrific scene where dogs were emaciated and fighting over food.

“I’ve been doing this 13 years, and it ranks up in my top five,” Cunningham said. “It was deplorable – uninhabitable by man or beast.”

Charlotte Binakonsky claimed ownership of the dogs.

There were 92 dogs and one cat at the farm. Most of the dogs were German shorthaired pointers, but one was a labrador mix.

Vittone said the dogs were mostly contained within two buildings on the property. After police executed the search warrant, the animals were taken to the Washington County Fairgrounds, where an emergency veterinary clinic was set up and veterinarians and veterinary technicians assessed them and provided care.

Two of the dogs subsequently died as a result of the conditions under which they were living at the farm, according to Vittone. Three suffered such serious damage to their vision that they now require the use of goggles to go outside.

Several rescue organizations took in the dogs, and most of them have been taken into private homes, Vittone said. Those organizations include Washington Area Humane Society, Pet Search, The Anna Shelter, Action for Animals, All But Furgotten, Pet Friends and Gray Paws Sanctuary.

Kelly Proudfit, executive director of the humane society, said the organization took in 11 of the dogs, including the lab mix. Most of the dogs have found homes, and the lab was placed in a “forever foster home.”

“It has serious issues with its hips and legs. That was the only one that wasn’t a German shorthaired pointer,” Proudfit said.

The investigation that led to the charges took more than a year, and is still ongoing, according to Vittone.

“When you’re dealing with the number of dogs that were involved … we had 93 investigations,” Vittone said. “It took time to get a lot of the veterinary records together so that we could establish a basis for charging, and then there was a lot of interviewing that needed to be done by the Pennsylvania State Police.”

Lucy Binakonsky is listed in some online records as an officer of Forever Rescue Inc., a nonprofit in Rockville, Md., whose website says it consists of “coordinators and volunteers dedicated (to) the rescue of pointers and pointer crosses.” The most recent entries on the site date to 2016 or earlier.

Vittone declined to comment on the whether her nonprofit work was relevant to the investigation.

He said the women face up to 7 years in jail for each felony charge, and/or a $15,000 fine. The additional charges each carry up to a year of jail time and a $2,000 fine.

The Binakonskys were arraigned before District Judge Ethan Ward and released on an unsecured $50,000 bond.

They are scheduled to appear before Ward for a preliminary hearing at 10:45 a.m. Nov. 18.