Farmer admits sheep deaths
8:17am Friday 5th September 2008
By Will Roberts »
A FARMER has admitted causing the deaths of 73 sheep whose decomposing carcasses shocked animal welfare officers.
RSPCA officers said the malnourished animals found at Graham Green’s County Durham farm had suffered a lingering death.
Green, 59, of Haggworm Hall Farm, in Baldersdale, pleaded guilty at Bishop Auckland Magistrates’ Court yesterday to five charges of causing unnecessary suffering to the animals.
The court was told that RSPCA vets had discovered the sheep in various states of decomposition when they visited the farm in February.
Of more than 200 sheep on the farm, 72 were dead and one more was put down the day after the RSPCA visit.
Kevin Campbell, prosecuting for the charity, said: “When the RSPCA inspectors arrived at the farm, on February 7, they were taken aback by what they found.
They saw two or three dead sheep in a field, and found more as they walked around the farm.
“It was obvious at that stage that there was something massively wrong.”
Magistrates were shown an RSPCA video showing the discoveries of carcasses.
Some were in the farmyard, some were in derelict outhouses, and others scattered around the edges of fields.
In one field, inspectors discovered 18 sheep living among 55 carcasses.
Post-mortem examinations on the animals showed that they died over a long period of time and had suffered from malnutrition.
Mr Campbell said an RSPCA vet decided this was caused by parasitic worms inside the sheep, combined with inadequate nutritional supplements. Worming tablets that Green had been using were out of date.
Green, who represented himself, claimed the worming tablets he used were “sufficient” and that the deaths were largely down to an unusually cruel winter.
He said: “You all saw the rain last night – well how would you like three months of that? It was terrible. I think it was down to stress and pneumonia.
“As far as the worming goes, I’m confused. After the inspection, I wormed all the remaining sheep and no more died, so they must have still worked.”
Green is considering selling his farm, where he lives with his wife. The case was adjourned until September 25 for reports.
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