Deputies were called to a ranch in Wednesday afternoon after an anonymous tipster complained of malnourished animals.
It's a pretty sad scene out here, we're just outside the property and you can see a couple cows, bony and emaciated. Neighbors say the owner starved the animals and left them to die in this sweltering heat.
"We see them every day, he doesn't feed them, that dead cow has been there since Saturday," said Faby Soto, who lives next door to the ranch.
Deputies found the body of a cow, and a dried out cow skull on the property, which bears the sign "Long's Cattle Company."
Deputies came in the nick of time for one pig.
"There was one large pig back there that was near death, one of the deputies sprayed it down with water and poured water in its mouth and it came around," said Chris Curtice with the Fresno County Sheriff's Department.
Several dogs were also found dying of thirst.
SPCA workers rushed to give all the surviving animals water.
Deputies arrested 30-year-old Gary Long (aka Gary Charles Long) who now faces 16 counts of felony animal cruelty.
"They don't have food, they don't have water. He doesn't have time for them," said Soto.
This may not have been the first time the SPCA was called out to the property. A neighbor tells KMPH, he called the SPCA to check on the animals last year because they looked starved. But the neighbor says, the officer told him he didn't find any signs of neglect.
However, neighbors tell a different story.
"He's been neglecting them for a while, and other animals have died too. This is the third cow that has died," said Soto.
She says she's glad to see authorities here, taking the animals away because it means, they'll finally be fed, given water, and cared for.
(KMPH - July 4 2013)
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