DALEVILLE, Ind. — About 60 emaciated farm animals are under the care of a new owner after being seized from an Indiana property where 20 or more other animals were already dead.

 

The death toll could grow because a goat and calf have died since the animals were removed July 11 from a farm at Daleville in the eastern part of the state, according to Phil Peckinpaugh, the city of Muncie and Delaware County Animal Care and Services director.

Peckinpaugh said he saw about 10 animals deceased and in various stages of decomposition, and estimated at least 10 more on the grounds were dead. Some of the dead animals were buried underneath a large quantity of manure inside the barn.

A farmer in Randolph County is now trying to wean back to health the 50 goats, nine calves, two horses and one piglet in various stages of poor health, said Peckinpaugh. Some of the animals in various areas of the property were so weak they had to be carried off on tarps.

“They’re all getting the medical care, the nutritional care and the environmental care that they need,” he said.

Well over 100 other “adequately cared for” animals were allowed to remain on the property because they were in decent physical condition, but the owner must abide by directives issued by a representative of the Indiana State Board of Animal Health to keep them.

“So, we’re going to give him that time to make those corrective actions,” said Peckinpaugh.

The directives include removing the animal carcasses and providing the animals with access to clean, fresh water, food and sanitary conditions. Peckinpaugh said a vast majority of the sick animals taken off the property were outside the unsanitary barn.

The name of the man who kept the animals on more than 30 acres of pasture was not released by authorities. He could face criminal charges, but that hinges on the outcome of the investigation now in the hands of the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office.

Peckinpaugh said the owner, who also has a few hundred acres of cropland, raised the animals to sell. He said the grisly discovery was made after the man “dropped them off at the sale barn and they died before the sale.”

He said it appears the man was trying to care for the animals himself and couldn’t keep up with caring for so many on his property alone. “I don’t think he’s a bad guy whatsoever. I think it’s just a sad situation, and he recognizes that so right now we’re just trying to work with him and make sure everything is taken care of,” said Peckinpaugh.

Earlier last week, about 20 more sick animals were found at a parcel the man operates about 10 miles away in the northwestern part of Delaware County.

Peckinpaugh said the farmer now caring for the animals has agreed to fund thecost of doing so and that he plans to allow 4-H children to show and enter them into competition.