Wells Fargo Farm Foreclosure Leaves 100+ Thirsty, Unfed Animals In Limbo After Owner Gets Boot

In Glocester, Rhode Island, The Providence Journal reports:

• The evicted owner of Bonniedale Farms, upset with the way 136 animals on his farm have been treated since he was forced off the property Monday by Wells Fargo Bank, plans to go before a Superior Court judge [...] to get a restraining order to force the bank or its agents to provide food, water and care for the animals left behind.

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• [T]he lawyer [for evicted owner Dan MacKenzie] said [McKenzie's] main concern was for the animals — including cats, dogs, chickens, pigs, horses, sheep, goats and others — that he said had been left to fend for themselves despite assurances by Wells Fargo that it had arranged to have the Rhode Island Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals take care of them. Tuesday, RISPCA president Dr. Ernest Finocchio confirmed some of MacKenzie’s fears, saying that the bank said it didn’t want the organization’s help. When he visited the site Tuesday, he said that at least some of the animals — eight horses and two 800-pound pigs — had not been given any water even though he had been told that they had.

For more, see Glocester farmer, evicted in foreclosure, seeks to compel care for animals.

See also, WBZ-TV Channel 38: Farm Foreclosure Leaves 150 Animals In Limbo.

For story update, see SPCA to direct care for Glocester farm animals:

• After nearly an hour in a Superior Court judge's chambers Wednesday, lawyers for both sides in the eviction of Bonniedale Farm's former owner hammered out an agreement for how the farm's animals will be cared for in the next 24 hours. The agreement is for Dr. Ernest Finocchio, president of the Rhode Island Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, to examine the animals and determine the care they need. Lawyers for Wells Fargo Bank, which now owns the farm, and former owner Dan MacKenzie have agreed to abide by whatever Finocchio determines the animals need in the next 24 hours, lawyers for both sides said in open court after meeting with the judge.