GOSHEN, N.Y. -- The owner of 27 goats and one calf taken from a farm on Orzeck Road in Pellets Island was given one last chance to feed them and get them checked by a veterinarian, SPCA officials said.

Hudson Valley SPCA Law Enforcement Chief Gene Hecht said on Sunday that he made contact multiple times with the owner who lives in Lynbrook (Long Island).

"I said to him, 'We went twice and you didn't do nothing pal,'" Hecht said. "'They're going to die.'"

Hecht said he visited the Ping Yan's property on August 4 in response to a complaint. Yan was not there at the time.

Hecht said he gave the caretaker of Yan's property an order to comply, stating that the goats had to be fed and checked by a vet within 24 hours.

Hecht said that when he returned the next day, nothing had been done, so he organized a rescue operation with SPCA vet techs and volunteers on Saturday morning.

Yan arrived part-way through the raid.

"There was no food and no water," Hecht recounted. "He (Yan) said, 'Oh, I have food. It's in the barn.' I said, 'But it's not with the animals.' Somebody gave them bamboo stalks today. 'They can't eat that.'"

Hecht said Yan immediately signed over the animals to the SPCA. He also said each goat was examined by a vet tech an given a health score between one (1) and nine (9). A score of 9 is perfectly healthy, while a score of 1 means the animal is nearly dead.

Hecht said that if an animal has a health score of 5 or greater, he usually tries to work with the owners to improve the animals' health and living conditions and does not typically seize the animals. 

Hecht said the highest health score any goat was given on Saturday was a 2, requiring the seizure of all 27 goats and one calf.

"I'm considering going and adopting a couple," neighbor Donna "D" Schneider said. 

Schneider said Yan and others at his property have been good neighbors, but they have clearly been unequipped to handle so many animals.

Schneider said she and other neighbors want the goats.

"We have the proper barns and proper coverage, even through the winter," she said. "I love them. They're cute."

Hecht said the goats were suffering from diarrhea and hoof rot, and had parasites. They are under quarantine for the next 30 days at a farm in Sullivan County.

Yan faces 28 misdemeanor counts of failure to provide food and sustenance to animals. He is due in Goshen Town Court on September 26.