Massive Animal Cruelty Case In Craig County

Craig County authorities are looking into a case of animal cruelty on a mind-boggling scale. After a tip from neighbors, sheriff's deputies say they found hundreds of dead sheep on a ranch owned by

Thursday, January 25th 2007, 11:37 am

By: News On 6

Craig County authorities are looking into a case of animal cruelty on a mind-boggling scale. After a tip from neighbors, sheriff's deputies say they found hundreds of dead sheep on a ranch owned by David Bell [pictured]. And they rescued hundreds more that they say were starving and dehyrdrated.

News on 6 reporter Steve Berg says to give you an idea of the numbers involved, they say it took 7 days just to move all the rescued animals to a different ranch.

The question that's still unclear is why this happened. What struck Humane Society officials when they arrived at David Bell's ranch was how quiet it was. "It was totally silent. There were piles and piles of dead sheep," said Cynthia Armstrong. She also says there were dead sheep slumped against fences, some huddled on porches, one had tried to crawl into the engine space of a pickup truck for shelter. "It was a very, very horrible sight and overwhelming because of the degree of neglect and starvation that had occurred."

Craig County Undersheriff BJ Floyd said, â€œafter the evidence, they look like they haven't had anything to eat or drink either one." About 1,200 sheep along with a handful of cows and horses have been moved to the ranch of Lonnie and Johnna Kelley, who also helped moved them all. "It was very disheartening to see what I saw. And whatever we can do to help, we're here."

One of the first things you notice is just the sheer number of animals that had to be rescued. Now consider that the Humane Society, when all is said and done, expects to find almost as many dead animals. "To our knowledge, this is the largest case of animal cruelty and neglect that we have ever seen in the United States," said Armstrong.

Officials say there are probably more dead animals still under the snow. They say David Bell is blaming the recent ice storm for the animalsâ€™ condition. But Cynthia Armstrong says the kind of starvation they've seen had to have started before the storm. "This didn't happen overnight. These animals were in various stages of decline."

Bell is charged with felony animal cruelty, along with several other charges. The News on 6 contacted his lawyer for comment, but so far, we have not heard back from him.