PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Animal welfare officials say they rescued hundreds of baby chicks from an empty lot in Philadelphia.

The Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals says investigators responded to calls Saturday and found the chicks in a lot across from a shopping center in the Olney section of the city.

Officials say the owner had hoped to take over the lot, which is owned by an adjoining business, and start raising the chicks for resale, but hadn’t contacted the property owner and failed to provide the animals with proper housing or feeding/watering stations.

They say he estimated “he had lost over a thousand chicks prior to the discovery of the birds.”

Officials say the hundreds of chicks will be cared for and placed with adopters or approved rescues.