Livestock mysteriously slain; farmers seek answers

Something is killing livestock in Pittsylvania County.

On one farm near Renan, nine calves were found dead last week — bringing the number of cattle killed there in the past year to 16. No one is sure who or what delivered them to their deaths.

The deaths concern Kenneth Crews, a part-time farmer whose land borders the farm on two sides.

“I want someone to help find out what’s going on,” Crews said Thursday. “Whatever’s killing 300-pound calves is dangerous.”

McKinley Dalton, whose livestock were killed, did not return messages left at his home Wednesday and Thursday.

Crews, a Hurt resident who has about 90 head of cattle on his farm near Renan, has suffered no unexpected losses to his herd so far. But he worries that whatever felled Dalton’s cattle could pose a threat to residents.

“People in the community are concerned for their safety,” he said.

Staunton River Supervisor Marshall Ecker said the nine calves killed last week bore no marks, and their carcasses were spread out as if they had been chased. Ecker said he spotted claw marks on a tree nearby. County officials hope a resolution convinces the state to continue funding to provide $200,000 to the Coyote Damage Control Program in western and southern parts of the commonwealth.

During the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday night, residents expressed concerns about coyotes traveling in packs killing chickens and posing a danger to other livestock. Darlene Doss, who runs a home for people with disabilities less than a mile form the farm where the calves were killed, told the board she will shoot to kill coyotes that could threaten her residents.

“We need you to do something to help us,” she told the board.

The county needs to respond to this, Doss said during an interview Thurs-day night. Doss said she has seen a bear in the community and heard bobcats.

As for Dalton’s farm, Crews said animal control officials have set up cages and video cameras there in the past but later removed them. Attempts to contact county animal control officials Thursday afternoon were unsuccessful.

Lisa Hudson, who lives in Bachelors Hall, said two dogs killed almost two dozen of her chickens over two days last weekend. The dogs, one of which Hudson said is a pit bull, also tore up several cages and chewed up several pieces of wood.

“This is not the first time this has happened,” she said.

Hudson said she called animal control officials, who took a report and returned and left traps, but removed them Thursday.

Hudson, who lives with her parents, also has guinea hens and another dog. Her mother has been threatened by the dogs, she said.

The dogs have not returned since last weekend, Hudson said.