Photo of horses rescued from Villa Chardonnay Horses With Wings, Inc., and now at Suwanna Ranch in Northern California courtesy Humane Farming Association
By Karen Pearlman
May 18, 2026 (San Diego County) — The multi-agency animal rescue operation at Villa Chardonnay Horses With Wings, Inc. animal sanctuary in Julian continued over the weekend with specialized teams converging to provide emergency dental and hoof care to dozens of neglected horses. Additionally, transports started to relocate farm animals to a lifelong sanctuary in Northern California.
The ongoing rescue effort at Villa Chardonnay’s 40-acre property at 4554 Boulder Creek Road began on May 1 when the San Diego Humane Society served a search warrant from a Superior Court judge following an investigation into widespread animal neglect, emaciation, and untreated medical conditions.
Legal ownership of the animals at Villa Chardonnay was transferred to SDHS amidst Villa Chardonnay’s ongoing bankruptcy proceedings.
The full roster of more than 700 animals found on the property includes 175 horses, 446 cats, 30 dogs, 30 chickens, 12 goats, eight ducks, eight geese, six mini ponies, four donkeys, four turkeys, three pigs, three roosters, three red-eared slider turtles, two ravens, one sheep, one bull and one crow.
Concerted effort to save animals, the background
The rescue is the result of overlapping investigations.
According to Grace Wainscoat, attorney for the Humane Farming Association, the HFA had been sounding the alarm since October 2025, working diligently through U.S. Bankruptcy Court to gain access to the property.
“Villa Chardonnay… had been the subject of numerous cruelty complaints over the years,” Wainscoat said. “The San Diego County Department of Animal Services repeatedly failed to take meaningful action going back as far as 2020.”
As foreclosure threatened the property where Villa Chardonnay operated, the facility’s founder, Monika Kerber, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Wainscoat said that HFA continued to investigate animal abuse claims and monitored the bankruptcy case, appearing at bankruptcy meetings and hearings, including questioning Kerber under oath regarding the care of the animals. HFA also submitted numerous requests under the California Public Records Act to obtain information about the animals and prior investigations into reports of abuse.
Through its investigation, HFA uncovered serious operational concerns and animal neglect.
Below right: A goat rescued from Villa Chardonnay, photo courtesy San Diego Humane Society
In December 2025, HFA urged the U.S. Trustee’s office to appoint an independent trustee, emphasizing that a trustee would have the ability to authorize steps such as veterinary inspection and access to the property.
When the bankruptcy court appointed Leslie Gladstone, current president of the National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees, as trustee last February, HFA advocated for urgent veterinary access to inspect the animals.
HFA secured the trustee and court’s approval, and on April 23, HFA funded and conducted a comprehensive veterinary inspection of all animals, and prepared to rescue the farm animals.
“The inspection revealed sick and injured animals who appeared to be neglected and were left to suffer in an ammonia-filled ‘hospice barn,’ with an apparent lack of adequate clean shelter or true palliative care,” Wainscoat said. “Many of the farm animals were kept in small, substandard pens without access to the outdoors, and harsh conditions caused some animals to attack each other and/or self-mutilate. Following the inspection, the veterinarians authored a report and submitted it to the trustee. Upon documentation of suffering animals, SDHS officers were able to establish probable cause to enter the property and investigate.”
SDHS launched its own investigation also in April of this year after accessing the property alongside the Department of Animal Services, which had been previously informed about the property but had only recently gained legal authority to enter.
After identifying significant deficiencies in animal care, DAS transferred the case to SDHS on April 24 because of the scope of the rescue and the complexities of the ongoing bankruptcy proceeding.
Documents show that the sanctuary was founded by Kerber and co-founded by Mercedes Flores. A criminal investigation is underway, but no charges have been filed yet. The SDHS has said it will be up to the District Attorney’s Office whether criminal charges are pursued.
Villa Chardonnay spokeswoman Heidi Redman has pushed back on the characterization of conditions at the property.
“There is no neglect, no abuse of any of these animals. They were well taken care of,” Redman said, adding that Kerber and Flores were “devastated” by the seizure and described the animals as “like their children.”
Triage for horse care
Over the weekend, the SDHS officials said that the focus shifted toward stabilizing the large equine population still at Villa Chardonnay. Many of the horses are reported as being lame, suffering from severe chronic imbalance and deep hoof cracking that developed due to a long-term lack of basic care.
Photo, left: A horse at Villa Chardonnay gets an X-ray from visiting veterinarians. Photo courtesy San Diego Humane Society
On Saturday, a team of farriers, equine veterinarians, animal caregivers and volunteers worked to treat as many animals as possible.
The SDHS reports that 76 horses underwent dental floating (a necessary grinding procedure that ensures proper chewing and comfort) and 77 received farrier services for their hooves. on Saturday and the next day, six more horses got hoof treatments.
Also over the weekend, Humane World for Animals has arrived at the sanctuary, where its staff is providing care for the remaining horses in Julian. Another team is caring for cats that were previously removed from the property.
Transporting animals out of Julian
Last Friday, long-distance transports began for the Humane Farming Association, which moved farm animals to its Suwanna Ranch sanctuary in Elk Creek, Calif., known as the largest farm animal refuge in the United States.
Relocation efforts over the weekend for animals heading to HFA’s refuge included two potbellied pigs, 12 goats, one sheep, and three chickens from DAS in Bonita.
Further transportation on Saturday included 29 chickens, four geese, four turkeys and eight ducks; and on Sunday, four donkeys, one mini mule, five mini horses and one horse departed from Julian to Suwanna Ranch.
Two alpacas, deemed not ready for the journey to Northern California, were brought to SDHS’s Escondido campus for localized care.
“Humane Farming Association investigates animal cruelty and rescues farm animals seized in law enforcement actions, providing them lifetime care and attention at HFA’s farm animal sanctuary,” Wainscoat said. “The Ranch will soon be the forever home of over 70 animals rescued from the Villa Chardonnay property. These long-suffering farm animals will now be given the loving care they deserve.”
Shelters still feeling the strain
The influx of animals from Villa Chardonnay has pushed regional shelter systems well beyond their standard limits. Prior to this weekend’s actions, SDHS approached a historic crisis point, housing a near-record 2,515 animals in its care at its five shelters, a number that has since dropped to 2,311.
To alleviate the strain on local infrastructure, SDHS coordinated an emergency transfer last week involving 65 cats, which had been among the 446 felines rescued from the Julian property earlier in the month.
Goats get to know their new digs at Suwanna Ranch. Photo, below right courtesy Humane Farming Association
SDHS staff at the nonprofit’s San Diego and El Cajon campuses evaluated and crated the cats before transferring them to Gillespie Field in El Cajon. From there, a Wings of Rescue flight successfully transported the cats to Fort Worth, Texas, where they are being cared for by the Humane Society of North Texas.
Euthanasia and reunification efforts
Some animals were found in such critical condition that humane euthanasia was the only option to prevent further suffering and has reportedly included four horses, a pony, a bull in severe medical distress and one kitten.
SDHS officials have emphasized that multiple veterinarians confer and agree before any euthanasia decision is made. Original owners of animals slated for euthanasia are contacted and involved in the process wherever possible.
While many animals are being placed with permanent sanctuary partners, SDHS is actively prioritizing reuniting boarded or surrendered pets with their original owners.
SDHS reports that its staff is currently processing more than 150 formal verification requests from individuals searching for their animals. To date, these efforts have successfully reunited 17 horses, four cats, and two dogs with their previous owners — including two horses, Koa and Chance, one of whose owner had not seen her horse in nine years.
The rescue work remains a massive, resource-intensive undertaking, SDHS leadership said. Members of the public looking to assist can make a direct impact by donating to the rescue fund or by adopting pets currently in the shelter system to free up vital space for oncoming Julian rescue survivors.
Updates on the ongoing operation and donation portals are available at sdhumane.org/julianrescue
2 Responses
Let us remember there are always two sides to every story. The news media will always print the negative side and know the value of sensationalized stories. Personally, I have visited Villa Chardonnay four times between 2018-2024 and saw nothing resembling the accusations made.
I’m waiting to see what developer ends up building housing on that property.
This was a massive undertaking and greatly appreciated. Thank you to everyone involved.