The animals were brought into the Coalinga animal shelter after their owner was arrested Thursday on animal cruelty charges. Now these malnourished dogs are recovering, but not all puppies made it out safe.
The three eight-week old puppies, along with six other larger dogs are recovering after Coalinga police say their owner neglected them.
"The puppies were severely dehydrated, malnourished, they had worms."
When animal control responded to a call of aggressive dog behavior at the property, they found fifteen dogs without food or water, but not all were alive.
Sgt. Rod Marple said, "Upon checking the area we found six dead puppies and we took the owner into custody for cruelty to animals."
Animal control officials say the puppies had been deceased for at least two days at the home of Victoria Palacios. The owner has since been released from jail but faces six counts of felony animal cruelty. Coalinga police say Palacios has been cited repeatedly for dog violations, specifically for having more than three dogs, a violation of the city code.
No one answered when Action News knocked on Palacios' front door, but residents around the area say they were shocked to learn of the dead puppies.
"She should have taken care of the dogs," said Edith Gonzalez. "Dogs are poor little defenseless animals."
Neighbor, Edith Gonzalez says the yard was always dirty and reeked of dog feces. She says the owner could have taken better care of them.
Gonzalez said, "I have two dogs of my own and I try to take care of those as much as I can, make sure they have water every single day and feed them every single day."
Neighbors are just happy the rescued dogs should make a full recovery.
"All the animals we have here, they appear to be recovering," said Kevin Farrell with animal control. "The puppies are eating all the food that they've got, we've given them medicine to take care of the worms."
The dogs will remain in the shelter for a couple more days but it's uncertain if they'll be returned to their owner or be put up for adoption.
