Over 160 Horses, 225 Cats and 30 Dogs Rescued from Julian

The San Diego Humane Society is currently in the process of rescuing hundreds of animals from an animal sanctuary in Julian, where they were found to be suffering from inadequate care. Veronica Carter and Bret Burkhart spoke to Nina Thompson with the San Diego Humane Society to find out more.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
We've been reporting this morning about the mass animal rescue
that started on Friday at the Villa Shardon May Horses
with Wings, Animals Sanctuary and Julian. Hundreds of animals, from
cats to horses, all found, many of them suffering from
lack of care.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
For an update now on the Cocoa News Lifeline is
Nina Thompson with the San Diego Humane Society. Nina, thank
you so much for joining us on San Diego's morning news.
Is that tough topic.

Speaker 3 (00:25):
It's incredibly tough. Thank you for having me.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
How many animals are we talking about?

Speaker 3 (00:31):
We are talking at least one hundred and sixty five
horses and ponies, more than two hundred and fifty cats,
thirty dogs. We also have other animals like goats, all pacas, pigs, keys, turkeys,
ravens that throw roosters, ducks, so a lot of different animals.

Speaker 1 (00:54):
How the heck do you care for that many animals,
especially large animals.

Speaker 3 (01:01):
Yeah, and I think that's the point. These animals were
not cared for. They ranges from widespread malnutrition, to emaciation,
to untreated open wounds, to lack of basic standard husbandry.
So it's a very tragic situation.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
This is all unfolding at the villa Chardonnay horses with
wings incorporated. It's an animal sanctuary, and Julian, how are
sanctuary animal sanctuaries like that regulated in the state of California.

Speaker 3 (01:32):
You know, I am not the right person to talk
on that about you. I can set you up with
our humane law enforcement to discuss that further. But what
is clear in this situation is that these animals were
not properly cared for and that is why we moved in.
This is outside of our jurisdiction, but we worked with
San Diego County Animal Services to get a warrant and

(01:57):
get in there, and then we took over the investigation.
And due to the scope that the property is huge,
there are a lot of animals and this is taking
a coordinated effort from a lot of different agencies. So
we have our partners coming all the way down from
Pasadena Humane Society, LA County Animal Care and Control. We

(02:17):
have Eclap out there right now helping us with the horses.
So it's a huge effort.

Speaker 1 (02:26):
Wow, this takes probably more resources than you guys have,
So what do you do at that point?

Speaker 3 (02:33):
Yeah, So this is tough because we'll never say no
to an animal and need, but we were already struggling
at San Diego Humane Society with dogs in our care.
We were already well over capacity with dogs, and so
if there's anyone in the community who is thinking about
adopting a dog, now is the time because we need
to free up the space and resources that we have

(02:55):
had to reallocate to this rescue, so that would be
incredibly helpful. Donations are, of course helpful because this is
an expense that we did not expect to take on.
So if you're able to donate anything at all, that
will help. We have a website set up at sdhumane
dot org slash Julian Rescue to update the public with

(03:19):
any information that we have, and there's also a link
to donate.

Speaker 2 (03:23):
There right, that's sdhumane dot org slash Julian Nina. Thank
you and your team for for doing for doing what
you're doing and saving some animals.

Speaker 3 (03:36):
Thank you so much for having me

Speaker 2 (03:38):
All right, Nina Thompson with the San Diego Humane Society