RSPCA inspectors were confronted with horrific scenes when
they visited a tenant farmer's land in County Durham.
had collapsed in the slurry and could not free
himself. When inspectors dug him out he
was found to be in a pitiful condition with
prominent bones and obvious muscle wastage.
Lamb corpses
In the snow-covered fields inspectors found
overwhelming numbers of dead and dying
ewes and lambs. Some of the newborn lambs
had died recently, and some had clearly been
dead for some time. One lamb was found lying
next to the corpse of its mother. Two dead
lambs, which had been partially eaten by rats,
were lying next to their live mother.
Swales, Cheviots and Shetlands are breeds of
sheep that should have been able to withstand
outside lambing, as long as adequate feed is
available, despite harsh conditions and poor
grazing. Those on this farm were found to be
in a poor state and struggling to survive.
The living sheep were treated for poor
nutrition and twin lamb disease, but the pile
of carcasses continued to grow.
No feed provided
None of the sheep, cattle or horses had
access to supplementary feed and water
troughs were frozen solid. The farm's storage
area contained 37 wrapped bales of silage and
a quantity of sugar beet, but this had simply
not been provided to the animals. There was
no fuel in either the defendant's tractor or his
quad bike.
The defendant showed no remorse. He was
uncooperative and dismissive, showing no
shame for what he had allowed to happen.
He had displayed a total lack of respect for
animals by driving over dead sheep, squashing
them under his tractor wheels.
A week of trauma
In total, 240 animals were either found dead,
died whilst the RSPCA was present or had to
Farm of shame
They found hundreds of dead and dying
animals, some amid knee-deep faeces and
others in snow-covered fields. A collie dog had
been living off the carcass of a horse. A dead
chestnut mare was found that had given birth
to a dead foal a few days earlier.
RSPCA Chief Inspector Mark Gent said: "It
was a scene of horror of huge proportions,
the worst I have ever seen." RSPCA Inspector
Garry Palmer, who has witnessed a great deal
of animal suffering in his time with the RSPCA,
added: "Words fail me, actually. This is the
largest-scale suffering I have ever encountered
in terms of numbers and pure neglect."
Dead in slurry
Inside a barn, inspectors found three dead
cows in slurry up to three-feet deep. They
removed the remaining cattle that could
stand, apart from an Ayrshire bullock that
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