Petition: Police Came for a Man With a Gun. They Found a Dog Cut Open With a Machete.

Nobody called the police about a dog. On July 31, 2026, West Hazleton Borough Police were called to a house on Tamarack Street in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, because a man was reportedly threatening family members with a gun. Officers found a discarded Taurus semiautomatic handgun near the property and took a man into custody. Only then, working through the investigation, did they find Shadow. According to the affidavit, the man had become angry, retrieved a machete and confronted the dog because it was barking. Shadow had a severe laceration across his torso. Officers reported finding bloody flesh on the floor. Please sign the petition calling for full prosecution.

✍  Sign the Petition

Shadow was taken to an animal hospital for emergency treatment. He was not the only animal in the house. Police removed another adult dog, two puppies and two cats, all found without adequate food or clean water, with help from the Luzerne County SPCA. The residence itself was described in the affidavit as having overwhelming odours and deplorable conditions, with large quantities of animal faeces, urine, a cockroach infestation, accumulated rubbish and malnourished animals. It was condemned as uninhabitable. Two juveniles were living there, and a referral was made to Luzerne County Children and Youth. Seth Michael Ponstingl, 23, is charged with felony aggravated cruelty to animals, a misdemeanour count of cruelty to animals and two summary counts of neglect. Anna Catherine Ziegler, 47, who police say had a duty of care for the dog and did not report the attack or seek treatment for him, is charged with endangering the welfare of children and neglect of animals. Both are charged and not convicted, and both are entitled to due process.

The reason this case is worth more than a headline is how it came to light. A machete attack, five neglected animals and a house unfit to live in were all discovered because someone reported a man with a gun. Had that call not been made, none of it would have surfaced. Pennsylvania strengthened its animal cruelty statutes under Libre’s Law in 2017, making aggravated cruelty a third-degree felony carrying up to seven years, which is the charge Ponstingl now faces. Whether that translates into a sentence is a separate question, and it is what the petition exists to keep attention on. The other detail worth noting is the bail: Ponstingl was jailed on $5,000 bail while Ziegler was released on $15,000 unsecured, meaning no money was paid, despite the felony charge relating to children in the home. One Green Planet has examined why animal abuse should be treated as a violent crime, and the case is reported by the Times Leader. Violence toward animals and violence toward people in the same house are rarely separate problems.

✍  Sign the Petition Now

Sign These Urgent Petitions!

• Petition: Luna Survived. Two Other Kittens Didn’t. They Were Killed to Punish Someone Else.
• Petition: She Told Deputies There Were Five Dogs. They Removed 36 Border Collies.
• Petition: 15 Elephants Died in One Month. Cyanide Was in Their Systems. Nobody Agrees Where It Came From.