June 13, 2026
County Animal Services treating horses from Julian rescue, relying on Spirit Fund
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Photo courtesy County of San Diego
East County News Services
June 12, 2026 (Bonita) — The San Diego County Department of Animal Services is currently caring for several horses at its Bonita shelter, following a massive rescue operation at Villa Chardonnay Horses With Wings Inc. in Julian last month where hundreds of animals were discovered living without proper care.
The scale of the May seizure was significant enough to require assistance from animal welfare organizations across the country. As part of the ongoing triage and recovery efforts, two of the six horses that were being housed at the Bonita facility were transported to the Humane Society of Ventura County on Wednesday, June 10 for additional, specialized care.
None of the horses rescued are available for adoption at this point.
To support the complex medical needs of the severe neglect cases, Animal Services is utilizing the Spirit Medical Fund, a donation-based account specifically reserved for animals arriving at county shelters requiring intensive medical intervention or facing extraordinary circumstances.
“Thank you to everyone who has helped these animals get the care they need and deserve,” Dr. Brie Sarvis, director and chief veterinarian for County Animal Services, told county officials. “Help from the community has been vital during this process.”
The Spirit Fund was established in 2008 after an abused puppy — later named Spirit — was found at the United States-Mexico border. The puppy’s high-profile rescue generated a wave of public generosity, prompting the county to create a permanent financial resource for animals in crisis.
According to the department, 100 percent of every dollar donated to the Spirit Fund goes directly to animal care, with zero administrative deductions.
Community donations have been critical in offsetting the costs of the Julian rescue recovery.
Tax-deductible contributions to the Spirit Fund (Tax ID: 95-6000934) can be made online or mailed via check payable to the Department of Animal Services. Checks should include “Donation for Spirit Fund” in the memo line and be mailed to 5821 Sweetwater Road, Bonita, CA 91902.
Additionally, the Bonita shelter is accepting physical donations through its Amazon Wish List to provide enrichment items for the animals currently in its care.
For updates regarding the broader ongoing rescue effort, the public can visit the San Diego Humane Society’s
Julian Rescue page.
Learn More About Borrego Springs
Photos and videos from the event were shared by California Overland Desert Excursions and participating content creators on social media.
A Hand Up for Neighbors in Borrego Springs
Borrego Springs has a story worth sharing. Ram Media Foundation was created to strengthen community through media. As a nonprofit foundation, its mission is to foster connection, creativity, public engagement, and access to local information through projects that serve Borrego Springs and the surrounding desert region. Ram Media Foundation currently supports three main media initiatives: KRAM-FM 90.5 Borrego Springs — Radio KRAM-FM is Borrego Springs’ local radio station, created to support community connection through radio, storytelling, music, interviews, and public programming. Through KPBS Public Media, the name “Borrego Springs” is heard throughout San Diego County every day, reaching hundreds of thousands of listeners and helping introduce the community to a much wider audience. This regional exposure brings outside awareness to Borrego Springs while KRAM remains rooted in serving the local community. BorregoSun.com — News, Community Storytelling, and Youth Media BorregoSun.com focuses on regional news, local history, events, and community storytelling. It carries forward a name and legacy that has served Borrego Springs for generations while creating new ways to share the stories that matter today. BorregoSun.com also supports the Borrego Sun Youth Intern Program , which provides opportunities for local students to gain experience in journalism, photography, digital media, storytelling, and community reporting while helping share the next generation’s perspective on Borrego Springs. GoToBorregoSprings.com — Visitor and Community Guide GoToBorregoSprings.com highlights local events, businesses, recreation, arts, dining, lodging, and outdoor experiences throughout Borrego Springs and the surrounding desert region. This initiative is rooted in community immersion — showing up at local events, connecting with businesses and organizations, sharing photos and updates, listening to residents, and helping visitors discover what makes Borrego Springs unique year-round. Each platform has a different purpose, but together they help Borrego Springs be seen, heard, and connected. Why does that matter? Because awareness creates opportunity. When more people hear about Borrego Springs, read about it online, or discover it through social media, they learn about our businesses, events, nonprofits, schools, artists, athletes, volunteers, and attractions. Growing Reach During the past month alone, Borrego Springs content under Ram Media Foundation initiatives generated: 150,000 social media views Social media reach up 28 percent 95,300 website views More than 4,500 active website users Website traffic up more than 23 percent That visibility helps local businesses, nonprofits, community events, and organizations reach more people. It helps showcase the accomplishments of students, artists, athletes, volunteers, and community leaders. Most importantly, it helps keep Borrego Springs connected to the larger region. Ram Media Foundation also values, supports, and encourages other local media voices and community spaces, including the Borrego News, Mike and Monica Rue’s online radio station The Ram, and social media groups such as Borrego Springs 92004 and Borrego Out and About. Each platform brings something valuable to the community, helping people share updates, stay connected, and tell the story of Borrego Springs. Borrego Springs has many stories worth telling. The more people who help share them , the farther those stories can travel. This has long been a place where creativity, curiosity, and community come together. We are proud to help tell those stories and share them with the world. Our Ask Visit BorregoSun.com daily. We are committed to Free constant updates and ongoing coverage of local news, events, businesses, schools, sports, nonprofits, and community activities. Help us share your stories by sending in announcements, photos, ideas, and updates from your organization, business, school, club, or neighborhood. Send it in. We'll send it out. Consider becoming a sponsor. Sponsorship helps support community journalism, youth media opportunities, storytelling, and outreach. Let's talk about how we can help amplify your content , message, cause, concern, event, organization, or act of kindness.
Borrego Springs has a story worth sharing. RAM Media Foundation was created to strengthen community through media. As a nonprofit foundation, its mission is to foster connection, creativity, public engagement, and access to local information through projects that serve Borrego Springs and the surrounding desert region. Ram Media Foundation currently supports three main media initiatives: KRAM-FM 90.5 Borrego Springs — Radio KRAM-FM is Borrego Springs’ local radio station, created to support community connection through radio, storytelling, music, interviews, and public programming. Through KPBS Public Media, the name “Borrego Springs” is heard throughout San Diego County every day, reaching hundreds of thousands of listeners and helping introduce the community to a much wider audience. This regional exposure brings outside awareness to Borrego Springs while KRAM remains rooted in serving the local community. BorregoSun.com — News, Community Storytelling, and Youth Media BorregoSun.com focuses on regional news, local history, events, and community storytelling. It carries forward a name and legacy that has served Borrego Springs for generations while creating new ways to share the stories that matter today. BorregoSun.com also supports the Borrego Sun Youth Intern Program , which provides opportunities for local students to gain experience in journalism, photography, digital media, storytelling, and community reporting while helping share the next generation’s perspective on Borrego Springs. GoToBorregoSprings.com — Visitor and Community Guide GoToBorregoSprings.com highlights local events, businesses, recreation, arts, dining, lodging, and outdoor experiences throughout Borrego Springs and the surrounding desert region. This initiative is rooted in community immersion — showing up at local events, connecting with businesses and organizations, sharing photos and updates, listening to residents, and helping visitors discover what makes Borrego Springs unique year-round. Each platform has a different purpose, but together they help Borrego Springs be seen, heard, and connected. Why does that matter? Because awareness creates opportunity. When more people hear about Borrego Springs, read about it online, or discover it through social media, they learn about our businesses, events, nonprofits, schools, artists, athletes, volunteers, and attractions. Growing Reach During the past month alone, Borrego Springs content under Ram Media Foundation initiatives generated: 150,000 social media views Social media reach up 28 percent More than 4,500 active website users Website traffic up more than 23 percent That visibility helps local businesses, nonprofits, community events, and organizations reach more people. It helps showcase the accomplishments of students, artists, athletes, volunteers, and community leaders. Most importantly, it helps keep Borrego Springs connected to the larger region. RAM Media Foundation also values, supports, and encourages other local media voices and community spaces, including the Borrego News, Mike and Monica Rue’s online radio station The Ram, and social media groups such as Borrego Springs 92004 and Borrego Out and About. Each platform brings something valuable to the community, helping people share updates, stay connected, and tell the story of Borrego Springs. Borrego Springs has many stories worth telling. The more people who help share them , the farther those stories can travel. This has long been a place where creativity, curiosity, and community come together. We are proud to help tell those stories and share them with the world. Our Ask Visit BorregoSun.com daily. We are committed to free constant updates and ongoing coverage of local news, events, businesses, schools, sports, nonprofits, and community activities. Help us share your stories by sending in announcements, photos, ideas, and updates from your organization, business, school, club, or neighborhood. Send it in. We'll send it out. Consider becoming a sponsor. Sponsorship helps support community journalism, youth media opportunities, storytelling, and outreach. Let's talk about how we can help amplify your content , message, cause, concern, event, organization, or act of kindness.
Borrego Springs ultra-endurance cyclist Sylvia Maas is preparing to take on one of the world's most demanding bicycle races while continuing her efforts to support local students through scholarships and mentorship. Maas will begin the NorthCape–Tarifa Race on June 20, 2026, at 12:01 a.m. from the North Cape in Norway. The self-supported race covers nearly 4,350 miles (7,000 kilometers) across Europe and finishes in Tarifa, Spain, the southernmost point of mainland Europe. The route includes checkpoints in Helsinki, Finland; the Hill of Crosses in Lithuania; Torun, Poland; Bregenz, Austria; Col du Galibier and Nice, France; Port d’Envalira, Andorra; Pico del Veleta, Spain; and Tarifa, Spain. Riders will cross multiple countries, mountain ranges, and some of Europe's most challenging cycling terrain. Maas, a retired teacher, is riding to raise awareness for Bike4BorregoKids , the scholarship initiative she founded after volunteering at Borrego Springs High School and recognizing the need for additional support for graduating seniors. The program provides scholarships, mentorship, leadership development opportunities, and educational experiences designed to help students prepare for college, trade schools, and careers.
Free hands-on clay, pottery, and glazing experiences planned for summer mornings in Borrego Springs. ArtPark continues to grow as a place for creativity, learning, and community in Borrego Springs. This summer, visitors can explore a new hands-on art experience as John DeLois, in partnership with the Borrego Art Institute, plans to offer free ceramics workshops at ArtPark. Participants will have the opportunity to work with clay, learn basic pottery techniques, try the pottery wheels, explore glazing, and have their creations fired and ready to take home. An open worktable will also be available for creative projects and demonstrations. Dates are still being finalized, but workshops are expected to take place on Saturday, and Sunday mornings throughout the summer. Located on the Borrego Art Institute campus, ArtPark combines community gardens, orchard space, outdoor learning areas, and public art, making it a unique place to discover something new. Whether you're interested in gardening, art, fresh produce, or simply enjoying the desert landscape, ArtPark offers opportunities to connect, learn, and create. Visitors are encouraged to stop by during the summer to see what's happening. You may find volunteers in the gardens, fresh produce available, a community project underway, or a pottery wheel spinning. For ArtPark information, contact Wade at (760) 767-5152 or email artfarm@borregoartinstitute.org .
Showing Up, Giving Back, and Inspiring the Next Generation At the Borrego Springs High School end-of-year awards ceremony, three women stood together who represent something deeply important in Borrego Springs: showing up for local students. Sylvia Maas, Corie Loera-Jaramillo, and Christina Portilla each serve the community in different ways, but their work shares a common purpose. They help educate, support, inspire, and encourage the children of Borrego Springs. Two of the women, Sylvia Maas and Corie Loera-Jaramillo, presented student awards that evening. Christina Portilla was there supporting her foreign exchange host students, but her presence reflected something even broader: she shows up for everyone. Whether through mentoring, volunteering, hosting students, or supporting local programs, Christina is one of the steady people helping Borrego Springs youth feel encouraged, included, and cared for. Sylvia Maas, an ultra-endurance cyclist and retired teacher, founded Bike4BorregoKids , an initiative that turns determination into opportunity for local students. Through scholarships, mentorship, leadership development, and educational experiences, Bike4BorregoKids helps Borrego Springs students prepare for college, careers, and life beyond high school. Through Bike4BorregoKids, Sylvia Maas has helped raise and award more than $30,000 in scholarships for Borrego Springs students for the third year, turning community support into real opportunities for local graduates. Her overall message to students is clear: don’t give up. In cycling, Sylvia often refers to the term DNF, meaning “Did Not Finish.” She uses that idea to remind students that school, work, and life will all bring difficult stretches — but the goal is to keep going, keep working, and finish what they started. Corie Loera-Jaramillo, who works at Borrego Outfitters in The Mall, has volunteered her time for over six years with the Interact Club at Borrego Springs High School , sponsored by the Rotary Club of Borrego Springs . Interact helps students build leadership skills, integrity, teamwork, and a commitment to giving back through service projects such as toy drives, field trips, community cleanups, and volunteer support at local events. Christina Portilla is known throughout Borrego Springs for her generous heart, creativity, and steady support of young people. She is a Girl Scout leader, foreign exchange student host, mentor, and volunteer for many local organizations, including OLAX, Soroptimist, American Legion, Bike4BorregoKids, and more. To many, she is like a mother to Borrego kids. Together, these women encourage teamwork, collaboration, service, and confidence. You will often see them at community events, not seeking attention, but working in the background, supporting students and helping programs succeed. Through scholarships, field trips, Dream It, Be It, service clubs, mentoring, and countless volunteer hours, Sylvia, Corie, and Christina remind Borrego Springs students that they are seen, supported, and capable of more than they may realize. Their work is powerful because it is consistent. They keep showing up. And for the children of Borrego Springs, that makes all the difference.
A Sunbelt Spotlight with Diana Lindsay For 17 years, Marshal South and his family lived on Ghost Mountain, a remote, waterless mountaintop in Blair Valley, now part of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. Their life of isolation, creativity, and survival became one of the desert’s most talked-about stories. Life on Ghost Mountain From 1930 to 1947, the South family lived in a handmade home on Ghost Mountain. Marshal South wrote about their primitive lifestyle in monthly articles for Desert Magazine, drawing thousands of readers into the family’s unusual desert experiment. A Writer, Poet, and Desert Storyteller South wrote poems, novels, essays, short stories, and more than 100 pieces for Desert Magazine. His writing celebrated the silence, beauty, natural history, and healthful qualities of the desert. The Story Behind the Legend Diana Lindsay, editor of Marshal South and the Ghost Mountain Chronicles, shares the history behind the South family’s life, the questions surrounding their years on Ghost Mountain, and why the story continues to fascinate readers today. About Diana Lindsay Diana Lindsay is an award-winning author, historian, editor, and president of Sunbelt Publications. Her work has helped preserve and share the history of Anza-Borrego and the remarkable story of Marshal South. .
By Dennis Mammana Week of June 14-20, 2026 The universe is a colorful place, but stargazers are often frustrated when they cannot see the glorious colors that appear in celestial photographs. These are all quite real, so why are we unable to see them? One reason is that the color receptors of the human eye (the cones) don't respond well under faint light. They need a significant amount of energy falling on them to become active. You can prove this to yourself by trying to see colors around you in a dark movie theater. Sure, those on the screen are vibrant — that's some pretty bright light hitting your eyes — but colors throughout the dim theater appear completely muted. The second reason that astronomical photographs show beautiful colors is that camera detectors are not affected by human physiology. They can "see" colors from even the faintest of light. This is important because these colors tell us a lot about the physical and chemical properties of celestial objects. This doesn't mean you can't see color in the night sky; it just means that you'll need to find bright stars to improve your chances. One of the brightest shines high in the eastern sky after dark this week: Arcturus. Follow the handle of the Big Dipper away from its bowl, and you'll soon encounter this star. If you have good color vision, you may notice that Arcturus shines with a yellow-orange light that indicates a temperature of about 7,200 F. Now look lower toward the northeastern sky. There you'll find Vega, a nearly white star that burns considerably hotter than Arcturus — about 17,000 F. Very low in the southeast after dark, you'll find a star even more orange than Arcturus. This is Antares, the brightest in the constellation of Scorpius, glowing with a temperature of "only" 6,100 F. Aim binoculars or a small telescope toward these stars, and their colors will appear to pop. This is because the optics gather much more light than your eyes, and this helps to stimulate your color receptors. Now if you'd like to see an intensely red star, you'll need to cast your gaze high overhead. Here you'll find a star that astronomers know as Y Canum Venaticorum. Most stargazers just call it La Superba (the magnificent), so named by the mid-19th century astronomer Father Angelo Secchi. To locate it, you'll need to start at the Big Dipper; just above it appear the two most prominent stars of Canes Venatici, the hunting dogs. About two-thirds of the way between the bend of the Dipper's handle (Mizar) and the westernmost star of Canes Venatici (Chara) lies a very faint star — one you may not be able to spot with your eyes alone from near the lights of a city. What makes this star unique is that it's what astronomers call a carbon star, one of the few visible to the unaided eye. Yes, it's a giant star like Arcturus, and it's also nearing its death, but, unlike "normal" such aging stars, La Superba has accumulated more carbon compounds in its outer atmosphere. Find this faint star and aim binoculars or a small telescope toward it. I promise you'll be delighted by what you see. Visit Dennis Mammana at dennismammana.com. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com. Learn More About Borrego Springs
