130 animals rescued from Orange Cove animal rescue on the mend

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- More than 130 dogs and several cats are now on the road to recovery after being saved from a Valley animal rescue two weeks ago. Investigators are looking into possible animal cruelty at Noah's Friends, a no-kill animal rescue in Orange Cove.

Dozens of dogs undergo their last health examination at the Central California SPCA, one of the final steps before they can go into a foster home. Some of them have gained significant weight after they were found emaciated with no food and water two weeks ago at Noah's Friends Animal Rescue. All of the 130 dogs are battling some sort of illness.

"What we're seeing here is tick-born diseases and internal parasites. So it's going to be about three weeks minimum of treatment, maybe a couple months, but we will provide that to the foster parents," said Walter Savari, CCSPCA.

Donations from across the community have poured into the shelter to help the animals. Now they're ready to go into foster homes. Officials are holding two orientations for people interested in fostering the animals-- Wednesday evening and Saturday morning.

"It's stressful on the staff of course, and it's hard for us because we love animals here at this shelter. And just what makes us happy is seeing that a lot of these animals are getting healthy, are doing well, and are about to leave our care," said Savari.

The Fresno County District Attorney's Office tells us shelters, like the CCSPCA, are affiliated with government agencies and have significant oversight. Rescues, though, operate as a non-profit and are subject to no inspections or government oversight. There are no statutes or regulations for animal rescues in the state of California. The CCSPCA said some of the animals that came to them from Noah's Friends were such dire shape they couldn't help them.

"Unfortunately, some of the animals needed to be humanely euthanized because of the severity of the illnesses and how they came to us at the shelter," said Savari.

Starting Wednesday, members of the public who are interested in fostering or adopting out any of the dogs can come by the shelter to take a look at them. All of them will be on medication for different illnesses but officials said their futures look bright.