Here’s a sad story reported by Kelley Schoonover of Associated Press and carried by a number of US news outlets, including this one.
A man who allegedly left a trail of dead goats through several states has lost custody of his 200-plus remaining animals pending the outcome of animal cruelty cases in Ohio and West Virginia. Christopher Weathersbee, 64, fled to West Virginia with 16 of his goats, including a dead one he'd been storing in a freezer, in late February amid an impoundment and seizure by agents in Scioto County, Ohio. Ohio agents found an estimated 80 goat carcasses on his rented property -- including one in the house and another nine in a freezer, according to Teresa Landon, director of the Ohio Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. They also seized about 220 live goats from the property.
Why was this man surrounded by goat carcasses?
Weathersbee said Wednesday that he was obligated to care for the goats as a Third Order Franciscan. When they died, he said he didn't have the strength to bury them, considering the fact the ground was frozen. "I'm one old man trying to fight city hall in three states," he said, adding that he is also seeking to overturn a 2004 animal cruelty conviction in Vermont. It was not immediately known whether Weathersbee had retained a lawyer.
In 2001, Weathersbee apparently applied to authorities in Vermont for help in caring for his more than 300 goats.
He wanted to start a no-kill goat shelter where he could produce cheese and wool, said Dana Starr with the Central Vermont Humane Society. He applied for loans, grants and even petitioned the governor for help. "He couldn't afford to feed them and couldn't understand why others didn't aid him," Starr said on Tuesday. At one time Weathersbee had some of the animals living in his house with him. The animals were allowed to breed and multiply and started starving, Starr said.
His religious views prohibited him from slaughtering any of the goats. (I believe there's a broader lesson there, but I haven't extracted it yet.)
You can also read the full story here.