SOUTH MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - Officials at a local organization are providing details of a mission they undertook to save nearly a thousand animals from cruel conditions.
Goats, chickens, lambs, among others were rescued by South Florida Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals from a property linked to a suspected cockfighting operation, according to federal authorities.
“From three days of rescuing the animals, we have picked up almost 800 animals. There are sheep, goats, ponies, rabbits, turtles,” said SFSPCA spokesperson Laurie Waggoner.
Hundreds of animals are now getting a second chance at life thanks to the hard work of the SFSPCA, which got to work removing the abused animals after the FBI and Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office deputies raided a 10-acre property near Southwest 122nd Avenue and 51st Street on Oct. 3.
Animal control officers removed the animals and what appeared to be dozens of dead birds. Officials say one goat died on the way to the hospital while another had to be euthanized.
Those at the facility, however, remain sick and severely neglected due to their time on the property.
“Pneumonia and pink eye are the most common things, along with the emaciation. Just being so sick, their bodies can’t fight it off,” said Waggoner. “You can see his little eyes. They get treated five or six times a day with medicine.”
Some animals now under the care of Waggoner and the team are in heartbreaking conditions. Roosters and chickens are battling respiratory illnesses.
“He had massive sores that they have been able to cut out and stitch up,” said Waggoner about an animal.
“All the chickens had lice and mites, so we have had to dust all of them,” she added.
7News cameras captured a small horse so thin its bones were visible. Pigs were under fed and suffering from painful sores.
“You can see the big sores on their feet,” said Waggoner.
Organization officials say the road to recovery for these animals is just beginning, and they hope to find them forever homes.
“So they never have to go through what they have gone through before they came here, which is why we are looking for sanctuaries where the animals don’t get adopted out; they will go there and stay there forever,” said Waggoner.
While the animals are finally getting the food, medicine, and care they desperately need, authorities remain in the process of investigating the alleged cockfighting operation.
As of Monday afternoon, authorities have arrested two men. Fifty-two-year-old Carlos Rafael Lezcano and 54-year-old Sergio Ruiz-Osorio are facing multiple charges, including animal cruelty.
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