Officials: Shackled children starved, but dogs were well-fed

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, Calif. -- (KRON) -- When authorities arrived Sunday night at a home in the California town of Perris, they found a family with 13 children, most of them starved and startlingly skinny.

They also found two female dogs. Well-fed, in good shape, seemingly well-trained.

The parents, David and Louise Turpin, were arrested and face dozens of charges each that include torture of their children. The Turpins pleaded not guilty on all counts.

The children — seven adults, six kids — are in the hospital, recovering from years of alleged abuse and neglect.

The dogs are at a shelter, and authorities plan to find a new home for them as a pair.

“They are in good condition, very active and friendly,” Perris city spokesman Joseph Vargo said of the two 1-year-old Maltese mixes.

The dogs will get a new home on February 5 when the winners of a raffle, open to locals only, are announced.

City residents will need to apply in the next week and be prepared to have their homes checked out.

Vargo said the dogs — a black one named Fluffy and a white one with no known name — bark and wag their tails when they meet people and look pretty happy.

The dogs will get their shots and be spayed before being adopted out.