‘We found dead goats at property’

A COUPLE claim they uncovered dead goats and spent $100,000 in repairs after renting out their Sunshine Coast property to the founder of disgraced charity Storybook Farm.

Jenny Theodore and her husband, who declined to be named, said they leased out the 10-acre Traverston property, complete with a five-bedroom home, to Lisa-Jayne Cameron and her two children from March 2011 to September 2012.

Ms Cameron had stated on her lease that she could have up to six dogs and two horses, but by the end of her lease, that had ballooned to about 40 grazing animals, plus two dogs.

She did not appear to be running the sanctuary at this point, the couple say.

Last week the Bulletin revealed that Storybook Farm Sacred Animal Garden, now based in north Brisbane, had been raided by the RSPCA, who seized 37 animals.

Ms Theodore said neighbours later told her there had been goats, horses, donkeys, alpacas, chickens and sheep in the five paddocks, including a house yard.

“The paddocks were they were dirt,” she said.

“Inside the house was faeces and urine, they made a very rough effort to clean it. We had to replace carpet we had, every single fly screen was ripped.

“The dogs scratched all the doors and the trims. The kids were sleeping in a house … full of fleas.”

The couple claim the livestock were so hungry they had bent and broke fencing, much of which had to be replaced, and also ringbarked trees.

A garden that Ms Theodore had spent six years growing had been ravaged by the animals, while an enclosure meant for cats had been used for chickens that had been living in two inches of excrement.

Ms Theodore’s husband says he confronted Ms Cameron about the conditions on the day she left, but she put it down to general wear and tear.

“When I was mowing in the front yard (later), I bumped over theses recesses and wondered what they were,” he said.

“A few weeks later I mowed again and found they were shallow graves with goat bodies, a horn of the goat was sticking up. There were several goats that had been buried there.”

He said they were unable to track her down after she left. bare,