The founder of a well-known Bensalem cat shelter facing more than 100 animal cruelty and neglect charges is expected to see the case against her dismissed under an agreement with the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office.
At a district court appearance Aug. 28, Margaret Vautard, 69, of Feasterville agreed to waive the charges against her to Common Pleas Court so she can apply for a first-time nonviolent offender probation program.
Vautard was the former director of the now closed C.A.T.S. Bridge to Rescue, an all-volunteer cat rescue in Bensalem where the Bucks County SPCA removed 70 cats and kittens last October after allegedly finding that many were unhealthy and living in deplorable conditions in a rented warehouse.
Two kittens the shelter
had taken in died of feline distemper, a highly contagious and deadly virus, and two other cats in poor condition were euthanized, the animal welfare agency said. Among the charges against Vautard were two counts of aggravated cruelty, a felony.
Nearly two dozen people filled the Bensalem district court Friday in a show of support for Vautard, a well-known figure in the cat rescue community.
“Margaret, it’s all good,” one woman said. “You’ve done nothing wrong.”
“God is with us,” Vautard told her supporters. “Misha is with us.”
Misha was one of the cats the SPCA euthanized.
Attorney Paul Lang, who represented Vautard, said his client will seek to enter the accelerated rehabilitative disposition with additional conditions to be determined. After one year she can seek to have her criminal record expunged.
“Today is a resounding victory for Margaret. She has dedicated more than 20 years to rescuing these animals,” Lang said after the hearing.
“The fact the government is going to dismiss the charges suggests everything for the public.”
The attorney characterized the case against his client as a travesty and an overreach by the SPCA. He alleged that the shelter was in the process of moving to a new location elsewhere in the state when authorities shut them down.
“They failed to investigate this properly,” he added.
The SPCA became involved after Bensalem’s animal control officer received a complaint about conditions at the rescue’s shelter.
The no-kill nonprofit — which opened in 2009 as a refuge to unwanted, stray and abandoned cats and kittens — has taken in, sterilized and adopted out thousands of cats, according to its website.
But the health of the cats suggested that the animals suffered from a long-term lack of sanitation and proper veterinary care, the SPCA alleged.
Some cats were confined to dirty cages while others were free roaming. The room was filled with trash and animal waste and smelled strongly of urine. Flies and fleas were visible throughout the room.
Many of the cats were in poor health, thin and suffering from upper respiratory infections, severe diarrhea and fleas and mites, authorities alleged. At least cat rescued tested positive for feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), which affects the immune system.
Vautard allegedly told authorities that the shelter didn't have much funding for vet care, but that they were doing the best they could with the money they had.
She told authorities that someone brought the two kittens with feline distemper to the rescue three days earlier and they had not yet seen a veterinarian.
The case is the second time this month where a large animal rescue case has resulted in no jail time for a defendant.
In early August, Abigail Tuttle O'Keeffe, 54, was accepted into the Bucks County Wellness Court, a trial diversion program, after entering guilty pleas to a felony charge of aggravated cruelty and eight misdemeanor and summary neglect charges.
O'Keeffe, the former owner of Narrow Way Farm in Wrightstown, was charged in 2024 with roughly 150 counts of animal cruelty and neglect in what the SPCA described as the largest animal rescue case in Bucks County history.
Crime and courts reporter Jo Ciavaglia can be reached at jciavaglia@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Bensalem cat rescue founder seeking probation | Exclusive
