by Alex Lloyd Gross
Heather Fitzgerald, of Coopersburg PA is charged with felony animal cruelty after Humane Police Officers found one of her horses in deplorable condition. This conditioned worsened and no effort was made to treat her eleven-year-old Thoroughbred gelding named Brazilliant. The horse had an eye injury.
Instead of taking it to the vet, or having a vet come to where she lived, she emailed the SPCA asking how to treat the horse, officials said. The injury happened in July 2025 and only got worse. When agents saw him, His badly damaged eye appeared to be sunken into the socket and was weeping what appeared to be a mixture of blood and pus. A large lump was visible near his mouth making it difficult to eat. He was very thin and stumbled when walking.
This is not Fitzgerald ‘s first encounter with the SPCA. On multiple occasions in the past, BCSPCA Humane Law Enforcement Officers investigated reports of poor conditions at Fitzgerald’s property and ordered corrections to be made in the care of her horses and dogs. Concurrently, Fitzgerald was repeatedly cited for allowing her dogs to run loose. In 2025, Springfield Township Police filed charges for a dog that was running at large and had killed a neighbor’s cat. A hearing in that case resulted in Judge McHugh ordering Fitzgerald to rehome all her animals within six months. She failed to comply with the order, resulting in a hearing held on May 4, 2026.
In consultation with BCSPCA’s Shelter Veterinarian, BCSPCA transported Brazilliant to Penn Vet’s New Bolton Center Hospital in Kennett Square. Their equine veterinary specialists examined the horse and came back with the worst possible news. His eye was cancerous, and the cancer had spread to the bones in his face, down his spine, and into other parts of the body, causing neurological symptoms in his back legs. He was suffering terrible pain from the cancer eating away at the bones in his face.
This type of cancer is common and treatable, and with early intervention could have been kept from spreading. Left untreated, Brazilliant suffered for months and was now beyond hope for recovery.
Fitzgerald now sits in the Bucks County Prison under $150,000 bond. She is charged with animal cruelty.