Janet Heim sues humane society for second time. She wants her 16 dogs back.

Janet Heim is again suing the Pike County Humane Society, this time, to claim 16 dogs she says belong to her.

The humane society says the dogs — who lived with Heim in a house trailer located on the humane society’s property in Shohola — belong to them. They called the state police to stop them from being taken.

This conflict is the latest in a long string engulfing the humane society over the past year, in which Janet Heim and her estranged husband, Barry Heim, have been pushed out from their longtime leadership of the nonprofit.

Janet Heim told the Courier that paperwork drawn up 23 years ago permits her to live on the humane society property in perpetuity, but that she cannot now locate the paperwork. She said she’d lived for all that time in the trailer with Barry Heim, who was the executive director up until earlier this year. He left in the wake of a sexual assault allegation made by an employee at the humane society’s animal shelter. Barry Heim denies all wrongdoing.

About six weeks ago, friends helping Janet Heim said they all loaded the dogs into three cars to move them to a friend’s home. They said the dogs belonged to her. But a state police cruiser blocked the road, preventing them from leaving.

The police made their decision after reviewing the dogs’ recently acquired licenses, dated Nov. 4, 2021, vaccination records, and other humane society documents. They watched the dogs as they were returned to humane society property, according to two of Janet Heim’s friends who were present at the time and wish to remain anonymous.

According to the humane society’s Facebook page, they found ear infections, long nails, tumors, and skin conditions among the 16 dogs. “We knew most, if not all, of these dogs had medical issues that needed to be addressed, which hadn’t been addressed in months, possibly even years!” said the posting.

Prior to Heim’s attempt to remove the dogs, the humane society also said, “We received a phone call from a rescue, letting us know that a woman named Vanessa had driven Janet with 6 dogs to have them euthanized! She was refused, but surrendered one of the dogs. We immediately verified this was, in fact, true!”

Now living with friends

The Pike County Humane Society is both an animal shelter and provider of adoption services. It does not regularly euthanize animals. Friends say Janet Heim is packing up and moving out of the trailer because the humane society has turned off its electricity. Heim is now living elsewhere, with friends, returning to pack and move whenever she can get some help and transportation.

The humane society hasn’t held a public meeting since the election of new officers on Nov. 23. They’ve reverted to holding meetings in attorney Eric Hamill’s law office.

Attorney John Martin represents Janet Heim, and Hamill represents the humane society. No comment from either attorney was received by press time. No Pike County court date is set for this latest lawsuit.