Amanda April says Joyner's Furr-eedom Rescue has taken in 70 dogs from Chester in the past three months and picked up 41 deceased dogs since January. The nonprofit volunteer operation has become a de facto destination for stray and injured dogs, although the city has not appointed it to provide animal control.
April named the rescue after Joyner, a three-legged dog she took in who died three weeks later, according to Delco Times. April got her first dog in 2016 and obtained a stray intake license and kennel license that year.
No Animal Control, No Shelter, No Response From City Hall
Chester has no animal control department or intake shelter. Stray and injured dogs are often referred to April, including through calls from Chester police officers, according to the Delco Times. April has asked Mayor Stefan Roots for a building and help with its electric bill so the rescue could establish a fixed intake site. Roots declined to comment to the outlet on the stray-animal issue.
April had also raised the issue with Roots in May, but told CBS News Philadelphia she received no response to follow-up calls, emails or texts. Chester Police Commissioner Katrina Blackwell told the Delco Times that the city has a stray-animal problem, but she would not characterize it as a crisis and could not confirm April’s rescue totals. Blackwell said police receive stray-animal calls, including reports of aggressive dogs, and that call volume varies partly with the weather. She urged residents to keep calling police when they see strays.
A Starving Cane Corso and a Dog Shot by Police
April says the rescue also handles dogs in severe condition and continues to receive reports of neglect across the city.
One large intake came on September 3, when Joyner's Furr-eedom Rescue removed 33 dogs from a home in the 3000 block of West Ninth Street. Blackwell confirmed awareness of the case to the Delco Times, which reported that at least four adult dogs remained at the property afterward, including one that had puppies. April says the roughly 70 dogs the rescue took in from Chester over three months includes this case.
Running on Donated Kennels and Payment Plans
The rescue relies on volunteers and help from outside Chester. It has 27 fosters and volunteers, though April says a core group of four people, including field officer P.J. McHale, carries much of the work. Aloha Doggy Day Care in Brookhaven provided two emergency kennels when space ran short, and Chester police officers have donated food, treats and money.
Veterinary bills remain a strain: Naamans Animal Hospital allows April to pay on a payment plan, and she still owes the practice $1,000. Providence Animal Center, Delaware County's primary humane shelter, has provided food and operates a retention program to help Chester residents keep their pets. The center does not have a municipal animal control contract and directs residents with stray animals to call 911, according to its published guidance. April has also launched a GoFundMe campaign for a dedicated facility and says she sometimes has to turn away calls because she has nowhere to place more animals.
A Fiscal Emergency That Predates the Dogs
The vacuum April is filling traces back to Chester's long-running financial collapse. Then-Governor Tom Wolf declared a fiscal emergency in the city in 2020, and the state-appointed receiver filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy on the city's behalf in 2022, with proceedings still ongoing. Michael Doweary served as receiver tasked with building a recovery plan before leaving the post in June 2025, when Vijay Kapoor took over. Kapoor has since pursued a petition in Commonwealth Court seeking to restore municipal authority over the Chester Water Authority to help resolve the city's debt, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer, a reminder of just how constrained the city's budget remains for anything beyond core obligations.
The fiscal squeeze helps explain the gap in municipal services, but the state rules still set requirements for rescue and stray-dog handling. Pennsylvania requires a rescue housing or transferring 26 or more dogs a year to hold a state kennel license. Separately, police or state dog wardens seizing stray dogs must hold them at a licensed kennel for at least 48 hours so owners can claim them. Pennsylvania's anti-cruelty statutes classify failing to provide food, water, shelter or veterinary care as neglect; neglect or abuse resulting in serious injury or death can rise to third-degree felony aggravated cruelty charges.
How stray-dog response is arranged
Pennsylvania’s Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement says state dog wardens pick up and transport strays to shelters. Statewide guidance does not establish Chester’s specific arrangements; the state’s 48-hour hold requirement for dogs seized by police or wardens is described above. Pennsylvania regulations generally require animal-control agencies contracted by municipalities to apply for a boarding kennel license, with an exception for agencies classified as nonprofit kennels, according to the Pennsylvania Code. Nearby municipalities have formalized services in different ways: Middletown Township says it contracts with Brandywine Valley SPCA for animal protective services, including stray-animal transport, boarding and care. The Delaware County Health Department says all animal bites in the county must be reported to it. That requirement does not show whether Chester or the county publishes dated records of animal-control calls, stray complaints or individual bite reports.
The human cost of unmanaged strays has already shown up in Chester. Resident Bridget Flynn reported being bitten by a stray dog in July, and that same dog later bit a 5-year-old neighborhood child three months afterward, CBS News Philadelphia reported. For now, April keeps answering the calls Chester police send her way, stretching a four-person core team and a donated kennel or two across a crisis that the city's own leadership has yet to publicly commit resources toward solving.
