480 ducks find homes after an emergency rescue operation in Riverside County

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Only a week after animal services officials in Riverside County discovered 480 ducks living in crowded, outdoor cages, all of the ducks have been adopted, the result of a what authorities are describing as a massive “teamwork and coordination” effort.The Riverside County Department of Animal Services found the ducks Tuesday after investigating overcrowding conditions at a property in unincorporated Riverside County, according to the agency.The birds were taken to the San Jacinto Valley Animal Campus, where officials urgently called on the public and rescue organizations to help place them beginning Wednesday.According to a social media update from the San Jacinto Valley Animal Campus, all 480 ducks have been rescued or adopted, marking one of the largest single intake-and-placement efforts for the department in over a decade.“This large-scale operation required extensive teamwork and coordination across our department,” Riverside County officials said in the social media update.

California Investigators with the L.A.County district attorney’s office and workers from Animal Care and Control had initially expected to find as many as 700 dogs and cats at the property in the 46000 block of 266th Street.Animal service officials were not available to explain who had adopted the animals and whether they were adopted as pets or food.

But Daniel Markichevich told KABC that he and his fiancée Savannah Burgardt visited the San Jacinto shelter on Wednesday and planned on adopting 20 ducks for their San Jacinto property.“We have a 3.5-acre farm, so they will just go right into the area and enjoy, and we’ll get out there and look at them, eat their eggs and have a whole full life for them,” said Markichevich, who recently completed construction on a pond in their backyard.An animal sanctuary in Vacaville, dubbed the Funky Chicken Rescue, took in eight of the ducks, accordin...