ANTELOPE VALLEY MAN FACING CRUELTY CHARGES.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro

Staff Writer

LANCASTER -- County officials said Tuesday they will file animal cruelty charges against a man described as a hoarder whose 185 dogs and more than 100 farm animals -- virtually all neglected and ill -- have been turned over to animal rescue groups.

Ivan George Callais Jr., 55, has had previous run-ins with animal control officers and is on probation in a Florida grand theft case.

"Hoarding means collecting animals to the point where it's almost like a sickness where you can't turn any animals away and collect to the point where you can't care for them," said Michelle Roache, deputy director of the Los Angeles county Animal Care and Control Department.

Animal rescue groups on Jan. 13 began caring for the animals after Callais signed over ownership to one of the groups, Acton-based A Wish for Animals, said founder Toni Eakes, who coordinated the effort with animal control.

The brood at the ranch west of Lancaster included dogs, goats, sheep, chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, pigs, an emu, a llama and one pregnant horse. Also found were two dead dogs under an overturned wheelbarrow.

Officials said they expect a warrant for Callais' arrest will be issued within a week.

Roache and animal rescue group members said they do not know where Callais is, and he could not be reached Tuesday for comment.

Attempts to reach an attorney who represented him in previous cases were unsuccessful. Callais had lived in a trailer on the rented property.

Adoptive homes were found for the dogs, and many of the farm animals went to other animal rescue groups, including Animal Acres in Acton and Gentle Barn Foundation in the Santa Clarita area.

"A lot of them are definitely needing some care," said Santa Clarita large-animal veterinarian Dr. John Roueche, who is helping treat the animals.

In early to mid-2007, Callais was cited for not having a kennel license, Roache said. The pending animal cruelty charges pertain to livestock animals that he started to bring to the ranch before December.

"He was getting them from a livestock auction place. He was picking up animals that appeared to need the most care, but he failed to care for them," Roache said.

In 2000, Los Angeles city animal control officers said they impounded 70 dogs officers found at Callais' home in Woodland Hills or wandering the street nearby.

In April 2004, they said, about 130 dogs, many of them puppies, kept by Callais on property in Gorman were found living in squalid conditions.

Callais was arrested in Kern County that same month on a Florida warrant for grand theft, and was extradited. Two months later, Callais was placed on five years' probation in that case, according to court records.

The animal rescue groups need people to adopt the animals, volunteers to help care for them, and also are seeking donations to pay for food, medicine and other costs incurred.

For more information on Eakes' organization, visit www.awishforanimals.org; she can be reached by e-mail at awishforanimals(at)yahoo.com.

Animal Acres can be reached at 661-269-5404 or by e-mail at info(at)animalacres.org.

karen.maeshiro(at)dailynews.com

661-476-4586

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Photo:

Frank Allen, farm manager of the Animal Acres sanctuary in Acton, shows turkeys that are among the animals being housed at the sanctuary after being confiscated from a ranch west of Lancaster.

Evan Yee/Staff Photographer