Billy Ray Shirley, 59, was charged with 30 counts of animal cruelty by the Forsyth County Sheriff’s animal control unit for keeping the dogs inside the home on Franklin Goldmine Road, according to Deputy Epifanio Rodriguez, a spokesman for the agency.
Shirley was released from the hospital about 6 p.m. Tuesday and was taken directly to the Forsyth County Jail, where he is being held on a $34,650 bond.
The charges stem from a call the sheriff’s office received Feb. 3 from an area hospital, whose staff was concerned about remarks Shirley made after checking into the hospital in “bad condition.”
Executing a search warrant at the home, deputies initially found 27 Jack Russell terriers, one of which was dead.
“There was feces everywhere,” Rodriguez said of the home. “You could tell they were urinating inside.”
Three more dogs were found the next day during a second search warrant.
“The conditions were so deplorable and cluttered, and with all the cracks and crevices, they very simply could have been hiding,” Rodriguez said.
He added that it remains unclear why Shirley had so many dogs, and they are not yet up for adoption.
“It’s up to us to take it before a judge who will determine if he is capable of taking care of these dogs,” Rodriguez said. “He can relinquish them himself. But if not, then it’s a matter of the court.”
He said Shirley does not appear to have a prior history of animal cruelty with the sheriff’s office.
The surviving dogs were taken to the county animal shelter in north Forsyth where, at last check, they were being treated and in overall good condition.
(Forsyth News - Feb 10, 2016)
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