Undercover video of sick, dying and dead cats at a Frazer animal shelter led to a raid of the facility and the arrest of its owner on animal cruelty charges.

Deborah Urmann, an inactive humane officer, began volunteering at Tiger Ranch Farm last summer. She was shocked by the conditions at the facility, which billed itself as a no-kill sanctuary, and began videotaping animals there to persuade authorities to investigate the owner, Linda Bruno, also known as Linn Marie.

When police and humane agents executed a search warrant Thursday night, they found hundreds of sick and dying cats as well as dogs, horses and a goat.

Sixty to 100 cat carcasses were in deep freezers, often with open wounds and other afflictions, according to Detective Richard Manning of the Allegheny County sheriff's department. The property reeked of rotting food and animal byproducts, he said in an affidavit of probable cause.

Inside a garage was a plywood structure that Ms. Bruno called the "isolation room." A dozen dying cats and one dead cat lying in "a litter box that contained more feces than litter" were found there, according to the affidavit. Sick cats were left without food or water to die, according to Dr. Rebecca L. Morrow, a veterinarian who helped bring the abuses to light. The cats had to be euthanized at the scene.

Tiger Ranch Farm was misnamed as a no-kill sanctuary, said Carolyn DeForest, one of the women who worked with Ms. Urmann to close the facility, located on nearly 30 acres of hilly, wooded land in a rural corner of Frazer.

"We call it a 'slow-kill' sanctuary," said Ms. DeForest. She said she had heard "horrible" stories about the shelter for about three years, and began complaining in January 2007 to local authorities, but nothing was done.

That changed in August, when the name "Tiger Ranch" came up in a ladies room conversation at a statewide conference. That led to the women's commitment to work together to close the shelter.

Dr. Morrow, who has practiced for 10 years and is an assistant professor at Duquesne University, had treated some animals from the shelter several years ago, but had not visited the premises until October, when she saw sick animals there.

Ms. Urmann showed the footage she had shot to Dr. Morrow in December.

Ms. Urmann said 200 to 400 cats were brought to Tiger Ranch each week, according to the affidavit filed with the search warrant. She said shelters from nine states were solicited, and that she witnessed discussion of money to be paid for carloads of cats brought to the ranch. Many cats would disappear without evidence of large-scale adoptions taking place, according to Ms. Urmann. The cats did not receive regular veterinary care, but did get penicillin injections "randomly and without veterinary guidance."

She said she witnessed cats being taken to the "death" room, as the isolation room was known, and placed in freezers after they died. Once the freezers were full, the carcasses were placed in the bucket of a backhoe and buried on the property.

Earlier this year, the women showed their evidence to the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Philadelphia and the Allegheny County district attorney's office.

Overnight Thursday, dozens of humane agents from state and national arms of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, veterinarians and officers from the sheriff's department and Tarentum police converged on the property on Miller Drive.

Ms. Bruno was arrested and faces multiple counts of animal cruelty. She was arraigned yesterday, with bond set at $50,000 straight and a request for evaluation at the Allegheny County Behavior Clinic.

According to Detective Manning, Ms. Bruno explained that she put sick and dying cats into an "isolation room" because "cats die just like people do ... We don't euthanize animals here. When they are very ill, I put them in the isolation room, and yes, they do die."

About 175 cats were removed Thursday night, and at least 400 more were expected to be removed by yesterday evening. In addition, several dogs were removed.

"We also found other animals, including chickens, a goat and horses forced to stand in their own waste, and will remove them as well," said George Bengal, director of law enforcement for the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Howard Nelson, chief executive officer of the PSPCA, said he expects as many as 700 live cats will be recovered before the raid is concluded.

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals provided three mobile veterinary clinics for use during the raid. The agents set up a temporary emergency room on Tiger Ranch to treat severely ill cats.

The live and dead cats were being taken to a temporary shelter at the Clarion County Humane Society in Shippenville. The facility had been closed last year, but kept viable for just such an emergency, Mr. Nelson said.

Residents said the neighborhood had been overrun with Tiger Ranch cats.

One woman said they often returned cats who had camped out on their porches begging for food. Sometimes dead cats were found in their yards.

Jackie Triantafellou, who operates a horse farm at the other end of the road, said many people mistook her property for Tiger Ranch. She said she has volunteered to care for the stable of horses that also were neglected at Tiger Ranch.

"I hope, through all of this, someone mentions that she is a good person, that she was trying to do the right thing and it just got out of control," said another neighbor, who asked that her name not be used.

"It's not all her fault," said another supporter. "A lot of times people just come and dump cats on her property and drive away."