More than 820 birds were removed from a Valley Center property on Thursday after county officers obtained a warrant and spent roughly 12 hours clearing the site. County Animal Services took the animals into its care and later moved them to the Bonita and Carlsbad shelters.
The recovery centered on the 11200 block of Lilac Vista Drive, where county officials said birds were being kept in conditions that raised health concerns. The animals included ducks, geese, roosters, peacocks, pigeons and parrots, with the county saying additional species may also have been rescued.
The case reached San Diego County after Riverside County alerted officials that the birds were sick and not being properly cared for. Kendra King said investigators reviewed the situation before deciding a warrant was necessary, which turned a welfare complaint into a large-scale removal. That same day, the county also tied the operation to an active animal cruelty investigation involving Howard Berkowitz, who was arrested on suspicion of animal cruelty and has since bailed out.
What the birds looked like once officers got inside was not a simple story of neglect. Manny Balcazar said many of them appeared to be doing pretty good, even as he acknowledged that some looked sickly and others seemed to have been bullied by other birds, leaving them with missing feathers. Dr. Brie Sarvis said officers found overcrowded and unsanitary conditions, and county officials said some of the animals showed signs of health concerns that will not be fully understood until veterinarians examine them closely.
The birds are now being evaluated by veterinary staff, with the San Diego Humane Society helping provide support as the county sorts through what it removed. The investigation is still open, and the county has not said what enforcement action will come next. For now, the answer is that the rescue is over, but the case is not.
