Update: Rescued Lancaster Animals Need Help and Homes

Just two of the many dogs found this past weekend on a Lancaster ranch. Photo by Laura Gunn

Over the weekend we told you about the 400 animals rescued from a Lancaster ranch, and the need for help with donations or adoptions to save the many abused and neglected animals. One of the volunteers who was at the ranch helping with the rescue, Laura Gunn shared with us an update and the photos she took of some of the dogs who were found there--many of whom still need good homes.

Although when the rescuers arrived to retrieve the animals this weekend the ranch owner could not be located and was not identified, we have since learned that the man's name is Ivan Callais, a repeat-offender of animal abuse. Gunn explains: "He had been collecting animals from shelters and from good hearted people who were looking to send animals to a rescue organization [...] The rescue organization he was supposedly running was called Saint Francis Animal Sanctuary. He seems to be a cross between a hoarder and a puppy mill." Furthermore, Callais has apparently fled from the ranch, as "he's disappeared and no one knows where he is."

Members of several animal rescue organizations participated in the removal of the animals from the site, including many dogs that had been clearly traumatized and neglected and used for breeding. The dogs are now in the ownership of Toni Eakes, who is the founder of A Wish for Animals, and the non-profit based in Orange County is in need of financial help to help cover the expenses of caring for the animals, as well as quality adoptive pet-parents.

For more information about helping out by donation or adoption, contact Eakes via A Wish for Animals. LAist has more of Gunn's photos from the ranch this weekend after the jump.