Wednesday, August 3, 2016

Connecticut: Photographs obtained by NBC 10 News show an unlicensed inspector alone at the site of a massive animal cruelty investigation, a contradiction of claims by local Board of Health officials.

CONNECTICUT -- According to police, the photos, which were taken by a deer camera owned by one of the farm's tenants, show Senior Health Agent Jim Walsh alone on the property on January 11.

Walsh previously admitted to NBC 10 that he's done inspections without a license, which the state says is illegal.


Walsh lost his license as a municipal animal inspector in 2010, and subsequent attempts by Chairman John Colletti to have him reinstated were denied by the state Department of Agricultural Resources.


Board of Health member Karl Santos previously told NBC 10 he inspected the land in January. However, NBC 10 obtained copies of inspection reports from the property dated January 11, with signatures that were illegible, straight lines.

Santos and Colletti deny that Walsh conducted the inspections alone. The trio has rebuffed calls for them to resign.

 

Santos and Colletti, by their own admission, were the town's only municipal animal inspectors who could have conducted the work, but claimed Walsh would only attend inspections with them for security reasons.

Meantime, NBC 10 has also obtained multiple emails and letters written by Donna Lambert, the town's animal control officer. In them, Lambert warns board members about the property.

One letter from February expresses concerns about "the welfare and living conditions of the animals."

 
 
 
All of the goats on the ground are dead. 

NBC 10 left a voicemail for Colletti Tuesday, but did not receive a response.

Staffers at the Westport Board of Health office said Walsh was away "on vacation".


(NBC10 News - Aug 2, 2016)

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