Officers find litter of puppies buried behind Freedom K-mart

Freedom, Calif. (KION) Behind a Freedom K-mart is where officers found a litter of puppies buried in the dirt.

"To do something like that, that's just not right," said customer, Bill Alread.

Some shoppers were disturbed by the news.

The Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter got a tip about a number of puppies behind the store, and after digging them up, officers found they had not survived.

"Our veterinarian was able to do a necropsy on the puppies that were found dead and determined it was of natural causes," said Erika Anderson with the Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter.

Contact was made with the litter's owner shortly after the discovery. Investigation showed the litter's mother rejected all but one puppy. The owner, who was said to live in a nearby van, said he didn't know how to care to care for them when they got sick and buried them behind the store after they passed.

"We did not find any abuse or neglect or anything like that. It's really just a situation where the owners did not know what to do," said Anderson.

The litter's mother and father were spayed and neutered by the Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter on Wednesday.

Spay and neuter services were put on hold during the beginning of the Shelter in Place. Now, shelter officials hope holding off on fixing animals won't lead to a surge in litters in a few months.

"It's certainly a fear. It's not something we've seen really take effect yet, but it's still early. I think the best advice for people waiting to get their pets spayed or neutered is just to keep the animals inside," said Anderson.