A 47-year-old Scranton man is in custody following the discovery of dozens of living and dead animals inside a home on Meadow Avenue. Scranton Police officers arrived at the residence in the 900 block on Monday morning to serve an unrelated arrest warrant for Mark Aaron Yaskoweak when they uncovered what they described as a horrific scene of neglect.
According to investigators, the home was in a state of extreme unsanitary distress, characterized by large accumulations of animal waste. Inside, authorities found a significant number of animals, some of which had already succumbed to the conditions. Yaskoweak was immediately taken into custody and has been hit with a wave of charges, including 10 felony counts of aggravated cruelty to animals, along with multiple other related offenses.
Following his arraignment, Yaskoweak was transported to the Lackawanna County Prison, where he is being held in lieu of bail while awaiting a preliminary hearing scheduled for April. Meanwhile, staff from the Griffin Pond Animal Shelter and Scranton Animal Control have spent the last 48 hours working to safely remove the surviving animals from the home. The shelter is currently providing medical evaluations and emergency care for the rescued pets, many of which are expected to require long-term rehabilitation before they can be considered for adoption.
