Denver (May 19, 2009)

Eight responders with the American Humane Association’s highly trained Red Star Animal Emergency Services™ team began assisting in the evaluation of several hundred animals, including dogs and horses, from the Thyme and Sage Ranch in Cazenovia, Wis., in a suspected animal cruelty case Tuesday.

The Richland County Sheriff’s department secured the property and executed a search warrant this morning, and American Humane is in charge of safely removing the animals from their current living conditions. According to its website, the Thyme and Sage Ranch provides re-homing or rehabilitation to neglected and abandoned animals in its care. The ranch also holds a contract with Richland County to take in stray dogs.

Multiple animal welfare agencies are working together at the site to remove the animals, investigate the scene, and evaluate and shelter the animals. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) is assisting in the investigation of the scene and is evaluating all of the animals found at the site. United Animal Nations (UAN), and Hooved Animal Rescue and Protection Society (HARPS), as well as local agencies such as the Dane County Humane Society, are assisting at the rescue site. PetSmart Charities® is providing much-needed resources via its Emergency Relief Waggin’ ®.

“American Humane is honored to work with the Richland County District Attorney’s office, the Dane County Humane Society and with our National Animal Rescue and Sheltering Coalition partners from the ASPCA, The Humane Society of the United States and United Animal Nations on this important effort to rescue nearly 300 animals in distress,” said Debrah Schnackenberg, vice president of American Humane’s Animal Protection Division and director of its Animal Emergency Services. “American Humane has sent a highly trained and professional team of Red Star emergency responders to assist with the initial rescue and handling of the wide variety of animals we now know to be in need of help at the Thyme and Sage Ranch location.”