Down On The Farm

SEBRING - Highlands County Animal Control is looking a bit like Old McDonald's Farm these days, due to the recent series of marijuana growhouse busts.

Animal control recently picked up 15 sheep following a growhouse raid by the sheriff's office. The day after the sheep were impounded, workers at animal control discovered they had a 16th sheep in their care.

"Overnight, one of the sheep gave birth, and we have a baby lamb here now, too," said Darryl Scott, animal control director.

Pens and pasture areas at the county facility are also sheltering three horses, three large hogs, four rabbits, a chicken, two yearling cows, and an 8-foot-long Burmese python.

Many, but far from all, of these animals came into the county's care from growhouse raids.

Scott also is responsible now for the care of four more horses and six sheep which are at a home north of Avon Park raided as a marijuana growhouse earlier this week.

"We're probably going to end up bringing those animals down here (to animal control, on Haywood Taylor Boulevard), when we can make room for them," Scott said.

In the meantime, he said, his officers are taking feed to the animals at the closed-down growhouse, and making sure they have plenty of water.

Though electricity to the home was shut off after the sheriff's raid, cutting off water from the well, "we have access to water for them, and we'll be hauling feed up to them," Scott said.

With the sheriff's office conducting a record 58 grow-house busts over the past year, the number of farm animals taken in by Animal Control has jumped substantially, said Ralph Smith, an Animal Control officer.

"You'll get a dog here or a cat there," he said about picking up animals at grow-house sites. "But mainly we're seeing goats and sheep and cows and hogs."

"And ducks, too," Scott added. "And sometimes chickens, and the four rabbits we're holding now."

Scott hopes to see a sheriff's sale soon of farm animals being held by the county and not claimed by their owners, which include county residents as well as people arrested and charged with growing marijuana.

Attorneys Mike Durham, representing the sheriff's office, and Ross Macbeth, representing the county, are working on the legal processes for the sheriff's animal sale. Animals must be voluntarily given to, or legally confiscated by, the county before they can be sold at public auction.

Asked when the sheriff's sale will come, Scott answered, "I don't know yet, I'm waiting to hear from the attorneys, but the sooner the better."

Scott said animal control is "running out of room" for all the farm animals, in addition to the stray and surrendered dogs and cats it holds.

Also, he said, feeding the larger than usual number of small and large farm animals this year is straining animal control's budget. He has asked Durham and Macbeth to structure the sheriff's sale of animals so that the proceeds, which normally go into the county's general fund, are transferred to his department, to cover the cost of feeding impounded animals.

"We're getting overcrowded, and we need to lighten up the feed bill," Scott said about his hopes of a sheriff's sale of unclaimed animals happening soon.

With $150,000 allocated by the county commissioners for improvements to animal control facilities this fiscal year, Scott said, new holding pens, paddocks and pastures will be added soon.

In the meantime, he said, his staff is working hard to take care of the farm animals with limited facilities, and hoping to move some of the animals out soon.

"We don't ever know," Scott said, "when that next phone call comes in and we have 15 to 20 goats to pick up, or cows running down the road, or hogs or horses, or you-name-it, to pick up.

"And," he added, "we also never know if we're going to get another call (for animal services) on another grow house."