More than 150 animals taken from a site in Oswego County last week are doing well and on the road to a full recovery, the volunteer official in charge of the rescue effort said Monday.
Tanya Semchenko, president of the Oswego County SPCA, marshalled a team of volunteers and two veterinarians on short notice to 90 Tudo Rd. in Mexico, a back-road area between the villages of Mexico and Parish.
Early Friday, an Oswego County Sheriff’s Deputy came to the property on an unrelated issue, which police have not disclosed. He is reported to have seen pigs eating the body of a dead pig. Police then got a warrant to search the property on animal abuse charges. They also called the SPCA and asked them to come. Once there, they confronted a scene that police and volunteers called the worst they’d ever seen.
Sheriff’s Department spokesman Lt. Andrew Bucher said deputies found the bodies of six dead animals, with a persistent stench from both animal and human wastes – a pipe to the home’s septic system was apparently broken, flowing waste into open air.
“It was a disgusting scene,” Bucher said.
Semchenko said volunteers moved quickly to assess the health of more than 150 animals and place them with foster families for continued care. One cow at the scene could not be saved and had to be euthanized. Two guinea hens placed in foster care also did not survive their injuries.
As for the rest, Semchenko said, “A lot of them are very, very happy to be out of that situation. We got a beautiful video from the woman who is fostering the ducks of them running around a clean wading pool and just being so happy.”
Police have not made arrests in the case yet, though Lt. Bucher said arrests are anticipated. He said police are waiting for all of the medical reports from the volunteer veterinarians from North Country Veterinary Clinic before deciding on charges.
The residents of the property have not been named, but they may be renting the property. Oswego County property records show it belongs to a limited liability company called Satt Properties LLC, headquartered at a post office box in Watertown. But as of now, there is no indication that the prior or current owner is involved in the alleged abuse.
It has made for a tangled case for police with "multiple stories” for detectives to sort out, according to Lt. Bucher.
For the SPCA, this is the second massive animal rescue in just over one month. In late February, police found more than 170 animals on a farm in Sandy Creek living in alleged neglect. One person was charged with a single misdemeanor animal neglect charge, but more charges are possible.
Semchenko said the volunteer non-profit believed it would aid about 500 animals in 2026, but these two incidents alone account for nearly 350 of that total.
“Our budget is completely blown out of the water,” she said, though news of the rescues has brought donations of cash, food and supplies.
“We just have to keep going, budgets be damned,” she said. “Luckily, we have a lot of support in our community.”
