Redding goats ‘deserve ... permanent loving homes’
More than 90 goats in animal cruelty case will be offered for adoption, state attorney general says
REDDING — State authorities have taken permanent custody of the dozens of goats that were seized last year from the local property of a woman accused of animal cruelty, the office of Attorney General William Tong announced Tuesday.
In March 2021, officials with the state Department of Agriculture seized 65 of the goats from the home of Nancy Burton during the execution of a search-and-seizure warrant. Burton was later charged with 65 counts of cruelty to animals. She has pleaded not guilty to those charges, and the case is waiting to be scheduled for trial, judicial records show.
Tong’s office said some of the goats were pregnant when they were seized and the state now has custody of more than 90 related to this case.
“These goats suffered extreme neglect and have been in state custody for well over 500 days. They deserve this chance for permanent, loving homes,” Tong said in a statement Tuesday. “State intervention is never our first choice. Resources and assistance are available to animal owners in need, yet was repeatedly refused in this case.”
Redding police had
received complaints about roaming goats and local ordinance violations at Burton’s Cross Highway property dating back to 2007, Tong’s office said. The state Department of Agriculture also received a handful of complaints.
On April 20, 2020, one of the goats was struck by a car while the animal was loose in the road, court documents said. Burton was also charged with animal cruelty in that case, Tong’s office said. That case remains pending in Danbury court as well.
On March 10, 2021, the Department of Agriculture and Redding Police executed a search-and-seizure warrant on the property, turning up between 40 and 50 dead goats in “various stages of decomposition,” Tong’s office said.
The dead goats were found “in plastic bags, piled underneath a tarp, inside trash containers, and partially buried,” the attorney general’s office said. One goat was found dead inside a shelter with signs the animal “had been struggling for a significant amount of time” before dying, the office said.
The goats did not have adequate water, and several struggled to walk, while some were noticeably underweight “with missing or matted fur caked with mud and manure,” the office said.
In May, a judge gave the state custody of the goats and ordered Burton to pay for the costs of caring for the goats, Tong’s office said. But Burton appealed and won a stay of the order.
In October, a judge lifted the stay, ruling Burton was “unlikely … to prevail on appeal,” Tong’s office noted, and that “incurring further unnecessary expenses and expending additional resources, as opposed to a permanent placement for the goats, is not in the public interest.”
“The state has devoted significant resources to the care and custody of these animals, and they are now able to be adopted out to their permanent homes,” Agriculture Commissioner Bryan P. Hurlburt said. “We are seeking adopters who can provide the goats with caring homes to ensure their health and wellbeing.”
Tong’s office said the goats will be available to the public to adopt. Anyone interested may contact the Department of Agriculture by emailing AGR.adoptions@ct.gov