Dozens of dogs rescued from SoCal desert hoarder homes

Riverside County Animal Services is looking for people to adopt dogs rescued from two horrific hoarder situations in the Coachella Valley last week.

Rescuers were called last Thursday to Thermal where they found a remote property littered with junk and about 50 dogs, some kept in kennels, some dead. John Walsh with Riverside County Animal Services said the temperatures that day reached 119 degrees.

“That situation resulted in 27-some dogs that were impounded that were still alive,” Walsh told KNX News’ Emily Valdez. Pretty horrific scene for my colleagues to have witnessed that. Ultimately, I think it was 19 dogs that were found dead.”

Walsh said the homeowner was in the hospital, and the dogs could have been without food or water for days before Animal Services was notified.

The second case, in Indio, resulted in 19 dogs being rescued.

“They were also very small, small-to-medium-sized dogs and puppies,” Walsh said.

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