Ohio: 'Farmyard of horrors' that saw 139 sheep, goats, dogs, chickens and rabbits packed into a subdivision backyard so tight they couldn't move sends Ohio authorities reeling

OHIO -- A Fayetteville man turned the backyard of his subdivision into a 'farmyard of horrors' that saw 139 animals crammed into 'deplorable' conditions without food or water, Ohio authorities said.

Sheep, goats, dogs, rabbits and chickens were found by local deputies to be packed in so tightly they couldn't move. Some of them were dead.

 

 

 

 

 

 

'It was just crazy,' Renee Bates of Brown County Humane Society told Fox 19. 'It was just crazy town. I don't even know how else to put it.'

Authorities were called in after an anonymous neighbor odor complaint was made about the backyard, which had been equipped with makeshift pens and outhouses.

Volunteers from the Brown County Humane Society and the Brown County Animal Shelter then investigated and discovered the animals being cruelly kept without food or water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photographs from the Humane Society's Facebook page show areas of the ground were nothing but mud and what appeared to be urine.

Other photos show the bodies of two chickens in what appeared to be two separate water troughs full of murky green water.

Elsewhere, chickens appeared to be trapped in a tiny battery area with no room to move in any direction, and n one photo a dead rabbit in a small cage appears to lie on top of a pile of straw.

It took two days for volunteers and dog wardens to remove the 130 surviving animals from the pens. Chief warden Josh Davis took time off from his holiday to help rescue the animals.

 

 

 

 

'They started running and jumping through the air,' Deputy dog warden Barb Ashmore said. 'They were happy to be able to stretch their legs.'

The would-be farmer, who is not being named, told authorities he hoped to feed his family with the tortured creatures.

NO CHARGES TO BE FILED FOR ANIMAL CRUELTY

He gave up the animals voluntarily, Ashmore said, so is not currently facing charges.

Most of the animals were chickens, according to a Facebook post by Brown County Humane Society.

 

 

 

It promised that all of the rescued animals were given veterinary care and were fed 'good quality food.'

The society also says that many of the animals - including all of the goats - have successfully been put up for adoption.

(Daily Mail - Oct 18, 2016)