"Animal Cops" focuses on Philadelphia

Carol Yancho was driving through Kensington when she saw a man in the middle of the street chasing a ram.

Yancho was on her way to work at the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, where she is working with the TV show Animal Cops as it follows humane-law officers investigating cruelty cases and rescuing dogs and cats - and that ram, which would have been sacrificed in a religious ritual had PSPCA officers not recovered it after Yancho reported what she witnessed.

"You never know what they're going to be handling day to day," Yancho said of the humane officers. "It makes for an exciting show."

The latest edition, Animal Cops: Philadelphia, premieres at 10 tonight on the Animal Planet cable channel. The second episode will play Thursday at 10 p.m. Eight more episodes are scheduled this year.

It's possible the show could stay in Philadelphia for several years, said Howard Nelson, the PSPCA's chief executive officer.

"We first heard about a year ago that Animal Planet, which is owned by Discovery, . . . [was] looking for a new venue, an inner-city venue, for their Animal Cops show," Nelson said. "We made a pitch to Animal Planet and Discovery that this location would meet their needs."

After a crew scouted Philadelphia and saw the officers and the cases they handled, the city was selected as the next featured location.

The show has followed officers in San Francisco, Detroit, Miami, Phoenix, New York and, most recently, Houston.

"They've been filming for approximately seven months now, and the process has been labor intensive," Nelson said.

Two camera crews have trailed officers around Philadelphia and across Pennsylvania, tracking dogfighting rings and checking puppy mills.

The crews operate out of a small office at PSPCA headquarters on Erie Avenue in North Philadelphia. Everyone keeps track of scores of story lines on three large message boards. Each story line has a name, often something colorful, such as "Midnight Menagerie," "Ny Ny the Tricycle Dog," and "Philly Pharm Phantasy."

In the latter case, investigators were called to a home where someone was keeping a bull, goats, and a large wildcat that at first was reported to be a tiger and later believed to be an ocelot.

While Animal Cops has run into all sorts of characters on the streets of Philadelphia, the PSPCA officers have also stood out.

"For TV, all of these agents have really wonderful personalities and come from different places and really mesh well with each other," Yancho said.

And the officers say they have grown accustomed to the TV crews. "They're great to work with," Officer Darlene Sosa said. "It's exciting."

George Bengal, director of investigations, said even the people accused of animal-welfare violations seemed eager to be part of the show.

Many "were very forthcoming" with the camera crews, he said, "which was surprising to me."

Jackson Derbish, a soundman for the show whose last project was in Africa, said his experience with the PSPCA officers had been "awesome."

He has enjoyed it so much he became a foster owner for a pit bull that the humane officers rescued.

"I think folks will be proud of the agents, proud of their work in Philadelphia to improve the lives of animals," Nelson said.

To view a video of the Animal Planet production, go to http://go.philly.com/

animalplanet

To learn more about the show, visit http://animal.

discovery.com/tv/

animal-cops/philadelphia/index.html.

For more information about the PSPCA, visit www.pspca.org.EndText