KERN COUNTY, Calif. -- The former owner of a large Kern County dairy is linked to the property where piles of dead sheep have been found. James Borba is the owner of the land where the carcasses were found near Highway 119 and I-5, according to county records.

The dead animals were spotted a couple weeks ago by a man camping in the area, and he called the Eyewitness News tipline. That started an investigation by Kern County Animal Control, who also referred the situation to the Environmental Health department.

Eyewitness News checked the location again on Monday, and took the global positioning satellite coordinates. Taking those GPS coordinates to the County Assessor's office, Assistant Assessor Tony Ansolabehere compared those to county property maps.

Those maps show the owner of the land is Buena Vista Dairy, LLC. Eyewitness News called a Tulare County number listed for that company, but a man who answered said Buena Vista Dairy was no longer in operation -- and they had only leased that land.

Ansolabehere then checked deed information, which shows the property was sold to Buena Vista Dairy, LLC in October 2004.

But, further checks show the owner has a home address in Bakersfield.

"Which is a house owned by James Borba," Ansolabehere said. "So, he pays the property taxes on it (the land with the sheep carcasses), and you would assume he wouldn't be paying property taxes for somebody else's house."

James and George Borba established two large dairies off Highway 119 several years ago, after a long environmental battle.

As of Monday afternoon, Environmental Health specialist Larry Carroll said the property in question is not part of any current dairy, and is not considered an immediate health risk.

It's a long way from any residential area, and carcasses he found on the site Monday were in various stages of decay.

However, there is clearly a problem with illegal dumping. The land not only has the piles of dead sheep, but areas littered with tires, trash, discarded furniture and appliances.

Carroll said Code Enforcement will be asked to deal with the illegal dumping of things like trash, and Animal Control will keep working on the issue of the dead animals. If those responsible for the dumping can not be identified, clean-up then falls on the property-owner.

And, it appears the property owner is Borba, through Buena Vista Dairy, LLC.

"A limited liability corporation can have stock-holders," Ansolabehere commented. "But according to the Secretary of State, if you want to contact Buena Vista Dairy, LLC -- contact James Borba. And, according to property taxes, if you want who pays the taxes for the LLC, it's James Borba."

Eyewitness News tried to contact Borba, and called several other Borba Dairy operations in the state. A man who answered at Borba Dairy in Tulare County said he had no relation to the dairy operations in Kern County, and had no idea how to contact James Borba.