The property owner, Janice Susan Deutsch, 47, who has been charged with animal cruelty in the 2011 case, has been in jail since Nov. 26 in connection with another investigation involving allegations of abuse against her elderly mother.
Animal control officials have made nine visits to Deutsch’s Hitt Lane property since receiving a report early this month of several dogs and goats abandoned there, said John Welsh, a spokesman for the Riverside County Department of Animal Services.
Officers found 14 dogs and eight goats left without food or water on the property in the rural La Cresta area, court records say. Some of the animals appeared to be underweight. Officers could see dogs confined to areas that had become filthy with feces and at least one goat had a wound on its neck, court records say.
After receiving no response to notices left at the property, officers tracked down Deutsch, who is in custody at the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside. They told her about the condition of her animals and asked if she would sign a release turning them over to animal services.
Deutsch declined, court records say, “insisting they were being taken excellent care of by friends.”
In the meantime, word of the animals’ plight made its way to Facebook. An animal lover who had visited the property appears to have told a friend who, in turn, posted a call for help from the public on Facebook.
“EMERGENCY IN CALIFORNIA,” a woman who identified herself as Kelley White wrote. “Please share this with your friends in CA, time is running out for these animals.”
The post gave the address of the property and said animal control had refused to take the animals. It described dogs and goats left to fend for themselves, adding that they were facing starvation and eating livestock carcasses.
On Christmas Eve, an animal control officer returned to the property after two injured goats were reported, court records say. The officer found the goats underweight and dehydrated, with infected, oozing wounds to their necks that appeared to have been inflicted by dogs, court records say. One of the goats was unable to stand.
Officers impounded the two goats and, after an evaluation by a veterinarian, the animals were euthanized.
Welsh said officers returned to the property with a search warrant later in the week, planning to seize the animals, but found them with ample food and water. Animal lovers apparently had seen the Facebook post and driven out to the property with supplies, he said.
“Folks have essentially gone onto a property illegally and begun to feed these animals,” Welsh said.
The animals’ situation is insufficiently dire for officers to seize them from private property, Welsh said.
Welsh said that while he understands the animal lovers’ frustration, they are impeding authorities’ efforts to remove the animals.
“They’ve got to allow us to do our job,” Welsh said. “We’re on top of this.”
On Friday, several large dogs and pups were roaming the fenced property and livestock could be seen in a pen with an attached barn.
In the previous case involving Deutsch’s horses, animal control officials said authorities failed for months to heed their warnings that she needed to feed them more. When the horses were seized last year, several had become extremely emaciated and were living in poorly maintained stalls, authorities said.
Deutsch was charged in October with causing great bodily injury on an elderly person, court records show. Orange County sheriff’s officials began investigating Deutsch after she brought her 86-year-old mother, covered in urine and feces, to a hospital in Mission Viejo on Sept. 30. Deutsch told investigators she had left her mother outside on a chaise lounge for more than a week because she had refused to move or cooperate with efforts to help her, court records say.
Deutsch has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges, court records show.
(pe.com - Dec 31, 2012)
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