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More Than 100 Animals Abandoned In Squalid Conditions On Monterey County Lot; 5 Dead

MOSS LANDING (CBS SF) -- More than 100 emaciated cows, goats, sheep, hens, ducks, pigs, dogs and cats were rescued from a squalid quarter-acre lot near Moss Landing on Monday, according to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals for Monterey County.

Five animals were already dead by the time SPCA officials responded to reports of dozens of animals dying from lack of food and water in the small lot with a house and several outbuildings off Dolan Road.

The animals were living in cluttered, crowded pens tied together with wire or twine. The ground was covered in manure and buckets of milk were left in the sun spoiling and covered in flies, according to the SPCA.

As authorities arrived, they found five young piglets out in the sun with no shelter and no water. Goats ran to the front of their pens toward the arriving SPCA humane officers crying out in hunger.

Two dogs were found locked inside crates left locked in a car. Two more dogs were locked in crates in the bed of a covered pickup truck left in the sun without adequate ventilation, SPCA officials said.

Three sheepdogs were so starved they were only half their expected weight of 100-110 pounds. A severely emaciated border collie mix was near death and needed an immediate blood transfusion.

In all, investigators discovered 34 young calves, four adult cows, 35 goats, three sheep, three hens, two ducks, five piglets, 15 dogs and four kittens, according to the SPCA.

The animals' owner could face charges of permitting animals to go without care, animal cruelty, deprivation of food, water and shelter, and illegal tethering.

Incidents of animal cruelty in Monterey County can be reported at (831) 373-2631 or online at www.SPCAmc.org.

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