WESTPORT — As animal experts began moving more than 900 survivors from the Route 177 animal abuse crime scene to a farmland off Pine Hill Road in Westport, the probe continues and has moved below-ground.

Westport Police last week obtained a second search warrant, this one aimed specifically at allowing them to dig in search of buried dead animals.

It didn’t take long for that search to turn up carcasses.

“They have found around 60 to 70 buried animals,” Det. Jeff Majewski said early on, at several locations within the 70-acre property owned by Westport resident Richard Medeiros. Heavy equipment returned to that task this week with many more places to look.

The second warrant was obtained after investigators “kept finding the remains of animals that appeared to be partially buried,” the detective said, and after some of those who lease the 20 lots on the property told of frequent burials.

“Renters told us that Medeiros regularly made the rounds picking up dead animals” for burial, Det. Majewski said. Police were also told that animals were also brought to the property from outside for disposal.

The burials are significant for several reasons, the detective said.

Among the allegations are that animals have been abused on the property and discovery of significant numbers of buried animals is evidence of a high mortality rate and may provide cause of death information. Further, bringing in dead animals from outside constitutes illegal disposal of solid waste, he said.

Assisting with the process is Dr. Jason Byrd of the University of Florida’s Maples Center for Forensic Medicine — he was brought in by the ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) which has taken a lead role both in the investigation and in efforts to care for the surviving animals moving forward.

Survivors’ evacuation

The ASPCA is taking the lead in the mass evacuation of survivors.

The organization is overseeing the construction of 14 temporary paddocks as well as many shelters on property near the Westport Fairgrounds.

The 900 animals (from roughly 1,250 found at the outset) were to moved starting Tuesday while the investigation continues. They will be provided good food and veterinary care while authorities decide where they will ultimately be sent. Among them are horses, ponies, goats, cows, sheep, pigs, ducks, dogs — “just about any farm animal you can name.”

It was expected that the move would take around three days.

While some lot renters may have treated their animals better than others, every animal will be removed from the 70 acres.

“None of the lots is a suitable place to house animals — the entire location is unsafe and unsanitary,” Det. Majewski said. “Every time we walk in there it’s like walking into hell. One satisfaction is being able to watch some of them respond to food and kindness.

When the “horrific” conditions were discovered off 465 American Legion Highway (Route 177) a couple of weeks ago, the Animal Rescue League of Boston came in to help as it often does in local animal abuse cases.

But after two days it became apparent that the scope of the situation required more significant resources and the ASPCA stepped in.

“They have been amazing … and have brought in experts from all over the country and Canada … They are treating it as a disaster” and are calling it one of the worst and biggest animal abuse cases seen in the northeast.

Among other things, the organization has been paying the considerable bill for the animals’ relocation — “and pretty much everything else,” the detective said. Whether that cost can be recouped from the property owner is “a question for ASPCA’s lawyers,” he added.

ASPCA is a separate organization from the MSPCA (Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), the group that was brought in when similar horrors were discovered at the same property last time.

Then, MSPCA recommended that no charges be filed but pledged to monitor the property to make sure abuses did not resume.

“They were ineffective,” Det. Majewski said. He added that one MSPCA operative told him that MSPCA only brings charges in 3 percent of cases in which it becomes involved.

24-hour police presence

Westport Police and numerous other agencies continue to the investigate by day, but at night the police presence continues.

“We are there around the clock,” Det. Majewski said.

An officer is stationed there to make sure nobody enters and that every authorized person is signed in and out.

“This is a crime scene and we have to protect it as such. It would be a catastrophe … not to preserve the evidence.”

While some lot renters were allowed in during the first couple of days to tend to their animals, the ASPCA took over those duties and none of the renters are now allowed inside.

Over the past week, police were able to identify and interview all of the lot renters, even though many were identified in ledger only by first name or cell phone number.

Efforts to get answers out of Mr. Medeiros have been a challenge, Det. Majewski said.

“He got an attorney really quickly” — and just as quickly that attorney alleged that police were violating her client’s Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure.

Arrests, BOH role

There will certainly be charges, police say, but that will take time. There are piles of evidence to sort through, 8,000 photographs to consider and meetings to come — with ASPCA, the District Attorney’s office and others.

And scrutiny continues into the role played by the Board of Health which oversees the inspector who is supposed to check on this and other locations.

Back in October, the town animal control officer (who works with the Police Department but does not have inspection authority) visited the property in response to a complaint.

Police say she sent two emails to the BOH to report things she had seen that concerned her.

“She never received a reply to those emails,” Det. Majewski said. Only after a phone call in January did BOH send out an inspector who reported back that nothing was amiss.

A “deer camera” at one of the lots in question does indeed show BOH inspector Jim Walsh walking by the gate in January, the detective said.

“But he had lost his license to inspect” not long after abuses at that property were first uncovered back in 2010, Det. Majewski said. The state Department of Agriculture declined to certify his appointment due to untimely and incomplete submission of reports — so while the BOH keeps putting his name forward, “he cannot be the official inspector.”

It was later stated that Mr. Walsh was accompanied by another licensed inspector who signed off on the visit, but the cameras caught Mr.Walsh “all alone — no one else was with him on January 11, 2016 …. He stood outside the gate and never went inside” the lot which is consistent with what the lot renter told police.

He and the other inspector “said they were together,” Det. Majewski said. “That is a problem as you can see.”

There is a reason police are speaking out, the detective said.

“If a properly licensed inspector did a proper inspection, these renters could use that as a defense,” he said. … All of that strongly impacts the investigation job that we and other agencies are trying to do.”

Mr. Walsh could not be reached for comment earlier this week.

Other developments …

• A pony pictured in last week’s Shorelines with a large, untreated abscess on the side of its head had to be euthanized last week. An x-ray revealed that the pony’s jaw had been broken and veterinarians concluded that, even with surgery, odds were poor that the animal would ever be able to chew food again. The number of animals euthanized is said to have exceeded 30.

• The Department of Environmental Protection has questions for the person who towed away a leaking tank of fuel oil. DEP investigators told Mr. Medeiros that a state-approved environmental cleanup was necessary to remove both tank and oil in the ground but the next day the tank was gone. A “deer camera” photographed the vehicle towing the tank away — that vehicle was identified as belonging to a lot renter.

• At at least one lot, pigs (which by law may only be kept at locations where there is human occupation) were fed raw meat. It is illegal to feed raw meat to pigs due to fear of trichinosis. A special permit is required to feed cooked meat to pigs and strict food preparation rules must be followed.

• At one lot, it was discovered that pigs had partially devoured another pig that had died.

• Brought in to help this week is the International Fund for Animal Welfare which has access to many large-animal veterinarians including some at Tufts University. Also assisting is the Cape Cod Disaster Animal Response Team.