The melting snow has revealed the frozen carcasses of more than a dozen more dead goats at a farm in Cornwall, Connecticut, whose operators have been charged with animal cruelty.
More than 70 dead animals have been found at the Butterfield Farm Co. since the state Department of Agriculture seized 74 sickly goats from the property in January.
Dr. Bruce Sherman, a veterinarian and director of the Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Regulation and Inspection, said in a statement Monday that the "great majority" of animal deaths occurred before state officials first visited the property in December.
"During a series of subsequent visits as part of the investigation, inspectors discovered and documented mortalities that were initially hidden from view, but that had occurred prior to our first inspection," Sherman said.
Farm owner Buddy Hurlburt told The Republican-American that carcasses have been turning up in "nooks and crannies" of the property.
Tara Bryson and Michael Hearl, both of West Suffield, are facing prosecution an animal cruelty charges in Bantam Superior Court in Litchfield. They are free on bond and have declined to comment.
The dozens of animals taken from the farm are now at a state animal rehabilitation facility in Niantic. Sherman said officials don't believe any animals have lived at the farm since the goats were seized in January.
