WINSLOW — Fourteen animals were seized Tuesday from a home on Nowell Road after a months-long investigation into alleged neglect, cruelty and inadequate shelter, police said.

No one has been charged, but several charges will likely be filed by the end of the month, police said. Police are withholding details until an investigation is complete, Sgt. Haley Fleming said.

A search warrant was served at 8:56 p.m. Tuesday at 519 Nowell Road, according to police dispatch logs. The menagerie included four cows, three calves, three horses, a pony, a donkey and two dogs.

The warrant came after authorities received reports from callers about things like cows in the road, Fleming said.

“It was brought to our attention there was a deceased cow on the property – a young cow,” he said. “It was determined the animals needed to be seized for the animals’ protection.”

The removal of the livestock on Tuesday night coincided with the availability of two large cattle trailers and trucks that could be used for the raid. It took almost three hours to load the animals into the trailers, in 20-degree weather, Fleming said.

He wouldn’t say where the animals are being held “because the family is very active in trying to find out where they are.” The animals, which appeared to be malnourished, are being evaluated and nursed back to health, she said.

The residence on Nowell Road includes a barn and a small pasture, but it isn’t a working farm, Fleming said. The family that lives there has been charged in a similar case in another county, but Fleming wouldn’t specify where or when.

Charges must be filed and the legal process must run its course before the fate of the animals is settled, which could take more than two months, Fleming said.

He wouldn’t speculate what might have happened if the animals hadn’t been removed, “but it was beneficial to the animals to do what we did, when we did it.”

Ben McCanna — 861-9239
bmccanna@centralmaine.com