Editor’s note: this article discusses felony-level animal mistreatment.
Dozens of dogs and cats arrived at Golden Valley in critical condition on Dec. 6. They were starving, sick, injured, covered in fleas and cold. Now, under the care of the Animal Humane Society, they are improving.
One dog is a friendly Great Pyrenees staff members named Klondike, who came to the clinic bloody and covered in matted fur. His back and rear were covered in bites and scratches from other dogs. When Klondike’s matts were shaved, the animal had lost a full grocery bag full of matted fur and burdock.
“All the animals in the property were in dire, unsanitary conditions,” Dr. Graham Brayshaw, lead veterinarian of the Animal Humane Society said during a press conference on Dec. 10. “They didn’t have adequate food, water, shelter [or] medical care.”
Animals were trying to take shelter among several small buildings including sheds, RVs and abandoned vehicles. Outside of the main house, nothing was heated.
Food was so scarce, the animals were seen “fighting over a piece of stool.” Brayshaw said. “They were that hungry.”