Sordid past of serial animal abuser who drove depraved Noah's ark is revealed - including run-in where sex with animals is STILL legal

The arrest of an accused serial animal abuser has uncovered a shocking bestiality ring allegedly being run from a school bus in Pennsylvania as well as the sordid past of its accused driver.

Shawn Hirschbine, 50, was busted after officers found the dirty bus full of hay and filled with 30 birds along with a trailer containing four dogs, a horse and a bull, all suffering in squalid conditions. 

Responding cops from the Eastern Adams Regional Police Department only discovered the vehicle after a passing motorist noticed Hirschbine and his 64-year-old girlfriend trying to move the bus after it broke down and called it in.

Inside the squalid bus-turned-zoo, authorities rescued nearly 40 severely abused animals.

Authorities only suspected the trailer was used for bestiality after matching the wooden walls of the trailer to the the background of a pornographic video sent to a minor that allegedly shows Hirschbine having sex with a horse.

Cops are now on the case, as Hirschbine stands accused of distributing obscene materials to a minor in West Virginia - where, shockingly, bestiality is not against the law. 

The Adams County SPCA, meanwhile, was forced to close after staff members contracted scabies while rescuing the animals. 

'This is not something we see every day and it's not something we ever want to see again,' the animal welfare organization wrote on Facebook the following day.

'Last night we received a call from Eastern Adams Regional Police Department asking us to help assist in a strange situation. They had a disabled school bus, pulling a trailer behind it with animals in the bus and trailer. 

'The driver was arrested for outstanding warrants (in another state) and his female friend was now stranded with the animals. Due to the fact that it was not that hot last night, we were able to get the animals water and keep them secure until morning.

'I'm not going to go into a lot of detail because as I said, it's been a really hard day,' the account added cryptically. 'This is not something we see everyday and it's not something we ever want to see again.'

But cops in the county not far from Maryland went on to fill in the blanks, revealing how after running Hirschbine's identification, they found a warrant out for his arrest in West Virginia.

It was for the distribution of obscene material to a minor, later revealed to be a 15-year-old girl.

The felony carries the potential for prison time, and comes two years after Hirschbine and the same woman, Deanna Huff, were arrested following an eerily similar discovery in upstate New York.

They were apprehended in Orchard Park, near Buffalo, after the same vehicles were found with a sheep, a cow, a horse, and several chickens also kept in deplorable conditions.

In that case, there was no food or water found on the premises, and the animals could not lie down due to the confined space, were living in their own waste, unattended, in the enclosed trailer in temperatures close to 90 degrees.

Hirschbine was convicted of confining an animal in a vehicle, neglect of an impounded animal, and torturing or injuring animals by failure to provide sustenance. He received a suspended sentence.

But Hirschbine later filed a federal lawsuit against the town where the incident occurred, seeking damages for injuries he said occurred when he was brought to the ground by his arresting officers.

That suit has yet to be resolved, and cops in Pennsylvania have not yet charged Hirschbine in the current case.

They said their investigation is simply proceeding as an arrest warrant for him was issued by police in Beckley, West Virginia, following a separate investigation into the alleged distribution of obscene materials to a minor. 

Bestiality is not illegal in West Virginia, one of only two US states along with New Mexico that do not specifically prohibit the practice.

Footage sent to the minor of a man performing sex acts with the horse shows a background 'consistent with the wooden enclosed trailer that he had the horse and the bull in,' Beckley Det. Nikki Pinardo said - revealing how she reviewed texts between the two that could help locate the 15-year-old runaway. 

The correspondence included eight videos and photos of the as-of-now unidentified man performing sex acts on a horse, Pinardo told PennLive, adding, 'None of the images or videos I have actually show his face.' 

But, she said, 'the stuff seen in the background is consistent with the wooden enclosed trailer that he had the horse and the bull in [in Adams County.]'

She also pointed to the content of some of the texts, in which, she said: 'It was him talking over TextNow to my juvenile victim, and he was stating that it was him [in the video] and things that he did.

'He was kind of leading her into bestiality-type sexual conversations,' the cop said.

Abigail Avery, director of the Gettysburg-based Adams County SPCA where the animals were brought, connected with Pinardo, after which she made the decision to run tests on them to look for any evidence of bestiality.

Speaking to PennLive, she described how she views the matter as 'disturbing,' after performing what amounts to as a rape kit test that included checks for human DNA. If his DNA is found inside an animal, he will then be charged in Pennsylvania, she said.

'It's a very unusual case, there's no doubt about it,' Avery explained of what she and others have already found.

'I mean I've seen people living in worse conditions. I've seen animals in worse conditions... But never the sexual trauma to animals like this.' 

She said there are some troubling signs - both psychological and physical - that at least some of the animals were sexually abused.

She also revealed how some of the animals had to be put down - a painful decision she said the SPCA was forced to make due to their unpredictable behavior.

'Most of the animals are doing well, some aren't doing as well, and unfortunately some didn't make it,' she said.

'You can sit and judge us all you want but we had to make some very hard choices this week. You don't have to agree. 

'[The dogs] didn't like being touched at all and were aggressive when we did touch them,' the org wrote on Facebook. 

'We can't blame them for acting this way, we can only imagine what they had been through. 

'We will never fully know what their triggers are, so sometimes that is what's best for the animals' safety and the safety of our staff.'

She added how one of the ducks couldn't walk on one foot - typically a death sentence for a bird that needs both feet, she pointed out. 

'We believe that the ones that passed are now free and are no longer suffering physically or mentally,' she said.

'I want to stress that we did not want to put any of the animals down, however it's our job to do what is best for the animal(s) whether we like it or not. Don't think this hasn't had an effect on us too.'

She went on to reveal the fate of Huff, as her boyfriend sits in a cell in the Adams County Prison.

She said Huff signed the animals over to the SPCA after Hirschbine was imprisoned, and that some of them will be made available to the public for adoption. 

She said Huff told her that she and Hirschbine obtained the animals mostly from owners who had posted online seeking to get rid of them

'She said that... he [Hirschbine] was on Facebook Marketplace and anybody that had free animals he was just picking them up,' Avery said.

'This is exactly why you don't re-home your animals on social media - because you don't know who's getting them.'

Cops, meanwhile, confirmed Huff was never taken into custody. She was given an unspecified amount of time to get the bus removed from the highway. 

'This guy's been driving around the county and people are like: "Oh, that's a weird-looking bus,"' Avery said. 

'You just don't have any idea what goes on behind closed doors. You know what I mean?'

'It's just out of sight, out of mind,' Avery said of how such rehoming strategies have become more come recently  due to surging inflation and high cost of living.

She added that the Keystone State is footing the bill for the DNA testing.

The results are expected within a matter of weeks, during which Hirschbine will be transferred to West Virginia.   

Cops handling the case described the condition of the bus they came across Saturday afternoon - and how it left rescue workers infected.

'Conditions were horrible... there was hay all over the place, the birds and dogs chewed up most of the interior of the whole place, there was feces all over the smell was horrendous,' Eastern Adams Regional Police Chief Francis Staab told Fox 43.

They were so bad, that a few days after officials from Avery's SPCA were called to the scene to help, one started breaking out in 'blisters' before being sent to a local hospital, a post to the SPCA's Facebook said.

First diagnosed as a 'heat rash', the condition came under further question the next day, when another team member started developing itchy blisters. 

'We contacted a Veterinarian with HSUS (Humane Society of the United States) because they handle many more cases like this all over the United States,' the SPCA said. 

'They confirmed that it was NOT a heat rash but was in fact "scabies" most likely from the birds' and 'extremely contagious.'

Scabies is a parasitic infestation, one caused by tiny mites that burrow into the skin and lay eggs. It is treated using ointments or oral medications.

As the staffers get treatment, the SPCA 'will NOT be taking any stray animals, owners surrenders or having any surgery until further notice,' the post on June 22 said. 

'We are very sorry for the inconvenience however, we have to take care of ourselves and our family at this time. Thank you for your understanding through this very difficult time.'

As for Hirschbine, he appears to have been living on the road with Hoffin for at least two years, after spending most of his life in western New York, public records show. 

The past couple of years seemed to have been spent in the old yellow bus, which bore the suspect's phone number on the sides and the phrase '24-hour tires and shows'.

The number is linked to various adult-oriented websites, cops said last week - pointing out how some of those pages included male escort services.

In August 2022, Hirschbine and Huff were arrested, and ordered to pay $1,735 in fines. 

They each spent less than two weeks in jail until the case was resolved.

Det. Pinardo, meanwhile, said last week that she’s identified more recent addresses for Hirschbine in southern Georgia - where the bus is licensed.

He has also resided in homes in West Virginia - one of four states where bestiality is legal. The other three are New Mexico, Hawaii, and Wyoming.

DailyMail.com has reached out to police overseeing the case for comment.