Samaritans Rescue

100+ Farm Animals

Near Garrattsville

Man, Woman Who Resided There

Facing Neglect, Marijuana Charges

By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com

GARRATTSVILLE – An electrified goose dead on the front lawn set the scene for horrors to follow at a 166 Backus Road farm about a half-mile from this hamlet:

• A dead goat’s carcass, fed on by nearby fenced-off pigs to stay alive.

• Pens where hens were packed so tight their feathers were rubbed off.

• A basement room where feces were piled so high deputies could barely force open the door to rescue the five dogs inside.

“This didn’t happen in days, or even months,” said Otsego County Sheriff’s Deputy Michael Stalter, the department’s information officer, who this evening had been at the scene for almost 24 hours.

Sheriff’s deputies discovered all this and more after being called to the 26-acre Town of New Lisbon farm plot at 7 p.m. Friday after a passerby spotted the goose caught in the electrified fence.