The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

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  • Horses are given food on private property near the banks of Little Clear Creek outside Rupert Thursday morning. The Greenbrier County Sheriff’s Department is investigating reports of animal abuse on the Grady Whitlock farm. F. Brian Ferguson

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February 11, 2011

GRISLY SCENE

Farm owner arrested following discovery of multiple dead horses

By Tina Alvey Register-Herald Reporter

Responding to an anonymous tip Wednesday, law enforcement officers discovered numerous dead horses at a Greenbrier County farm.

Standing at the Shawver’s Crossing site along U.S. 60 early Thursday morning, Sheriff James Childers said, “This is pitiful. This is awful.”

As of 3:30 p.m., officers working with a veterinarian Childers called in had identified 28 dead animals, Childers said.

“There’s no evidence of feed anywhere on the farm that we’ve been yet,” Childers said. “The vet’s opinion is the animals died for lack of food.”

All of the animals were found on a 300-acre farm, which the sheriff said is owned by Grady Whitlock of Raleigh County.

“I called (Whitlock) this morning and told him he’d better (come to the farm),” Childers said Thursday afternoon.

When Whitlock arrived on the scene, officers took the 83-year-old man into custody. Childers said he is charged with at least 28 counts of animal cruelty, one for each dead horse found thus far.

Whitlock was arraigned before Greenbrier County Magistrate Doug Beard and released on a $2,500 personal recognizance bond on the misdemeanor charges.

Childers said Whitlock’s best guess was that there were between 85 and 100 horses on the Shawver’s Crossing farm. The sheriff said animal control officers were having difficulty arriving at a count of living horses, given the size of the farm.

“We seized the farm and the property,” Childers said following Whitlock’s arrest. “Now, we’re making sure we make arrangements to feed the animals that are still alive. These animals are so hungry they’re licking our vehicles to get the salt.”

“We might bring four-wheelers out here to help get food to them,” he said. “One of the saddest things is that a lot of the ones we’ve found alive are pregnant.”

This is not the first time complaints have been made about conditions at Whitlock’s Shawver’s Crossing farm. In January 2006, The Register-Herald reported animal control officers were investigating a situation involving 60 miniature horses that were allegedly being neglected at the farm. Many of those animals were also pregnant at the time.

Whitlock denied owning those horses.

That incident was resolved when the unidentified owner of the animals was pressured under threat of legal action to move them out of the marshy area where they had been kept.

Childers said Thursday the horses now at the Shawver’s Crossing farm are not miniatures. He said he understands that the miniatures are now kept on a farm Whitlock owns in Lewisburg.

“I’ve heard there are some dead horses at his Lewisburg farm, too, but I haven’t had time to check that out in person,” Childers said, adding that he had dispatched two deputies to that farm late Thursday afternoon.

The sheriff said he had also received a report that at least five dead horses have been found at yet another farm Whitlock owns in Mercer County.

Childers said he does not anticipate filing charges against anyone else in connection with the animal deaths at the Shawver’s Crossing property.

— E-mail: talvey@register-herald.com

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