- Virginia, USA -
On Wednesday, August 10, 2022, Hanover County Animal Control executed a search warrant on a property in the 6600 block of Mattawan Trail in Mechanicsville.
The owner of the property is DR. FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT EWING III, a family practitioner.
WTVR reports that officers and volunteers discovered more than twenty-three dead livestock and many dead chickens.
They also found and seized live animals who were on the property, including:
59 chickens
10 pigs
7 goats
4 sheep
2 cows
2 horses
1 mule pony
Online court records show that EWING has faced charges in Caroline, Hanover, and Henrico Counties related to inadequate care of animals, livestock running at large, and cruelty to animals.
In May 2022, EWING was ordered by a judge to never own livestock animals in the Commonwealth, but, as reported by WTVR, EWING appealed the case, allowing him to keep the animals until his pending court date set for September 8, 2022, at 1:30 p.m.
After the discovery of the deceased animals, EWING’s neighbors are now speaking out and said that they've been filing complaints about animal neglect at EWING’s property since 2019.
Residents further said that when driving by EWING’s property, “they saw sites like an overload of animal feces, no food, and broken gates allowing animals to roam the streets freely”, reports WTVR.
One of the neighbors, Ms. Alexis Tucker, told WTVR that she has called dozens of times to report what she saw. She said: “It was a massive decline of, oh wow, these animals are here, then oh my gosh, they are incredibly skinny and there’s no hay and water. A lot of times, the complete ground was covered in feces.”
Another neighbor, who wishes to not be identified, said that in March 2021, she wrote an email to a member of the Hanover County Board of Supervisors and told him she witnessed animals not being fed or watered for long periods of time.
The neighbor also said that she called Animal Control roughly 100 times.
According to Hanover Animal Control, in 2019 they have received 160 calls about EWING’s property.
Hanover Animal Control Chief Jeffrey Parker confirmed to WTVR: “We have a lot of history with the suspect. Lots of violations have been issued.”
After hearing this, naturally, the question asked to Chief Parker was why it took three years and dead animals to finally do something about it. Chief Parker explained to WTVR that at the time, a lot of the concerns voiced were minor and animal control tried to work with EWING to give proper care.
According to WTVR, "Hanover County spokeswoman Kerri O'Brien said they took every single complaint seriously and many of the calls from neighbors did not rise to the level of county action under the laws of Virginia".
Chief Parker also explained that with regard to agricultural animals, there are very few guidelines when it comes to malnourishment to prevent dehydration.
He added that it should take a while to bring charges forward in connection with this incident.
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Details may be removed or additional information may be provided in future should such sources report an update.
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