Investigators pulled 13 animals out of a western Massachusetts property this week. Some of them were standing in more than a foot of manure. The MSPCA-Angell Law Enforcement team ran the seizure on Wednesday under a court warrant, after the group says it found the animals living in unsanitary conditions. The property is in Berkshire County, and the animals seized were seven horses, two mules, a donkey, two geese, and a cockatoo.
Several of the animals were in rough shape when crews got there. Mike Keiley, the MSPCA-Angell vice president of animal protection, said some were badly underweight. Their hooves had grown so long that walking was a struggle, and NBC Boston ran photos that showed several horses looking emaciated.
The seizure didn’t come out of the blue. The MSPCA says it had gone to the owner more than once to push for better conditions, and nothing changed. When those efforts went nowhere, the team got its warrant and took the animals. It still hasn’t named the owner or said exactly where the property is.
All 13 animals are now at the MSPCA’s Nevins Farm shelter in Methuen, Massachusetts, clear across the state from where they were found. Staff there are feeding them, treating them, and trying to get them back on their feet. The MSPCA went public with the case on Thursday, a day after the seizure.
Where the 13 Animals Go From Here
For now, the animals will stay put. The case still has to go to court and beyond. If the MSPCA is given permanent custody, they can then be put up for adoption. That’s how most of these cases end, at least usually. Right now, feeding, hoof care, and the animals’ weights need to be looked after before they can be adopted.
There’s a reason the big cases keep coming to Nevins Farm, too. The MSPCA-Angell runs the only shelter in the region set up to take in a lot of animals at once. Keiley says the team always tries to keep space and supplies ready for the next call, as well.
A Busy Year of Animal Seizures for the MSPCA
This is just the latest case in what Keiley calls an unusually busy year. The shelter is so full that it’s now sitting on 35 roosters, three times what it normally has room for. To make space, it’s dropping rooster adoption fees on June 27 and 28.
Other cases have dwarfed this one. WPRI previously reported that the MSPCA hauled 147 farm animals out of a single Franklin County property last year, and the count passed 150 once some of them gave birth at the shelter. The group runs on adopters and donations, and right now it needs both.