Dozens of animals found tied up in bags dumped on side of Tulare County road

TULARE COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- Tied up in a feed bag and left for dead.

It's no wonder a puppy, named Amigo by the Valley Oak SPCA, isn't quite ready to make new friends.

"He really just needs to know that not all people are bad," said Lydia House, Valley Oak SPCA Executive Director. "He can trust that we're going to feed him and care for him and love him and keep him safe."

Amazingly, a woman spotted Amigo in the bag and let him out, but that's when he ran away.

The next day, a neighbor found him in her backyard, and the SPCA picked him up there.

On their way back, they saw more feed bags on the side of the same road where Amigo was left.

"You could see immediately, I mean just by driving by, that these bags had objects in them," House said. "And then what we found were just dozens of birds, roosters, chickens, small animals - dogs probably. They were just so decomposed that it was not really easy to identify what they were."

House says there were different levels of decomposition, and skulls nearby, leading her to believe that the road has long been a popular dumping spot.

Neighbors say they find dead and live animals on a regular, sometimes weekly basis.

"Your heart starts feeling for all these animals and you want to keep them," said Clayton Negrete.

Negrete has even taken some of the abandoned animals in as pets.

When they see or catch one, Negrete and his neighbors call animal control as soon as they can.

Between the coyotes and cars, they likely won't live long in this area.

"Animals normally stick around the place where they've been dumped at," Negrete said. "So last week we had some right out there by our mailboxes, and they were just hanging around."

He thinks people dump the animals here because they can do it discreetly in the shrubs and orchards.

Unfortunately, the problem is not new to the SPCA, who also cared for Chance - another puppy found in a trash bag last month.

But the SPCA wants it to stop.

They say if you see something suspicious, report it.

And if you don't think you can care for an animal anymore, call them - they can help.