Severely starved animals rescued from Moss Landing property

Morethan 100animals are fighting for their lives after they were found Mondaystarved and living in trash in Moss Landing. The SPCA for Monterey County said it’s the largest animal rescue they’ve seen in more than a decade.

“Many animals we rescued would have not survived the day and others would not have made it much longer than that,” Beth Brookhouser with the SPCA for Monterey County said.

After getting an anonymous tip Monday, SPCA Humane Officers discovered dead and dying animals on a property off Dolan Road. They found baby calves, cats, dogs, ducks, goats, and hens.

“It was cluttered, it was dirty, it was filled with manure, very little water, and barely any food to talk of,” Brookhouser said.

Now the SPCA is faced with a huge task. Most of the animals are being cared for atits’ shelter while some are housed at a private ranch in Prunedale. Still, the animals need 24-hour attention, especially the baby calves that were so thin you could see their skeleton.

Laramie Winfield is a livestock veterinarian and she was there when the animals were rescued.

She said they’re going to need”a lot of supportive care, antibiotics for secondary infections, treating the fleas and the parasites,” Winfield said.

Winfield saidit will costabout $300 to treat each baby calf. Multiply that by 34 and that’s over $10,000 in costs not including food.

“They need to get fed multiple times a day. They’re getting checked out and examined. And some are doing better than others so the sick ones might need a little extra care,” Winfield said.

Too weak to eat hay, the baby calves are being fed milk supplement that goes for about $60 per 25 pound bag.

But the SPCA for Monterey County said that’s a small price to pay to save these animals.

As for the property owner, SPCA officials said they plan to submit a case to the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office. If charged, she could face multiple criminal charges for animal neglect and cruelty.