Hold Rutherford County Animal Control accountable for deceiving rescue organizations, misappropriating resources, and abandoning animals surrendered to their care!

On August 7, 2020, a Rutherford County citizen, whose income was impacted by Covid-19, contacted a rescue organization asking for help. She had almost 80 potbellied pigs and she was concerned about her ability to provide for all of them in the future. She wanted rescues to find homes for all but 15 of the pigs, which she would retain.

Rutherford County Animal Control (AC) was contacted in order to ensure coordination. A plan was formulated in which several sanctuaries and rescue groups would help AC build holding pens on the owner’s property to segregate males, females, nursing mothers with piglets, and sick pigs. This would prevent further breeding and allow for triaging the animals that needed immediate veterinary assistance. 

AC was provided with a list of supplies that would be needed to build the pens and shelters. Rescue organizations across the country were contacted to help transport and rehome the surrendered pigs.

The volunteers who arrived on August 10 were told that they would be building the holding pens on AC property instead of the homeowner’s property. Twenty animal rescuers from as far away as Texas spent the entire day building the pens and catching the 57 pigs with the cooperation of the pig’s owner. Three more pigs were caught and moved to the holding pens the next day.

AC accepted donations from national organizations and private donors to pay for feeding and evaluating the animals. One of the organizations present rescued 13 piglets just a few weeks old that needed immediate intervention. The estimated cost to rehome all the pigs was $20,000 to $30,000, and rescue organizations began fundraising and contacting veterinarians while tracking the pigs by spreadsheet for evaluation and placement. 

AC was vague about the placement of the remaining animals, finally disclosing on August 13 that they had been surrendered to a Chase High School agricultural instructor, where they would be used for teaching students to perform hoof and tusk trims, vaccinations, deworming, and other “pig-raising” skills. They did not seem concerned that placing rescued pets into an agricultural training program is inappropriate and unethical.

Several weeks later, the high school teacher who oversees the agricultural program contacted the rescue organizations asking when they would be arriving to pick up the pigs. He had been told by AC that he would be temporarily holding the pigs and was unaware that ownership had been conveyed to him personally. He asked for help finding rescuers and sanctuaries that could take the animals.

The rescuers were faced with shocking conditions upon their arrival at the Chase High School barn. The cement floor was covered with pig waste, no hay was available, and the building was wet and cold. Water bowls were too tall for most of the pigs to drink from. Many of the animals were severely malnourished and dehydrated, some had diarrhea, and many had eye infections. The males had not been separated from the females and they continued to breed.

Homes were found for all the pigs over the next two weeks. All were removed from the barn by August 31 and were sent to rescues in Florida, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Missouri, and North Carolina. 

Animals were sick when they were removed from the barn, and others that spent time in the barn continued to get sick. Four have died and many others are infected. The adopting rescues and sanctuaries are reporting that their healthy pigs are contracting the illness from the newcomers, which is taking a significant financial and emotional toll on them.

Necropsy results of the deceased animals showed the animals that were surrendered by animal control to the FFA barn contracted many diseases, including Escherichia coli also known as E. coli, Klebsiella aerogenes, Lysinibacillus and Mycoplasma pneumonia. These diseases are common in farm pigs, such as the 10 that were cramped into a stall at the barn next to the potbellied rescues. Animals that survive have respiratory damage that will affect them for the rest of their lives.

North Carolina State and other veterinary organizations are warning would-be adopters about the “Rutherford pigs”, which is leading to canceled adoptions.

Kathy Hamilton and James Kilgo of Rutherford County Animal Control are responsible for this unfortunate situation. They changed the rescue plans. They redirected donated material and volunteer labor away from the pig owner toward a county-owned structure and caused illness and death among animals that otherwise would have been placed with volunteers who would have made them healthy and happy at their own expense. None of the pigs that were rescued before the move to the Chase High School barn have these life-threatening illnesses.

We question the competence and credibility of AC, which has blemished the county’s reputation statewide as home of the “Rutherford pigs.” Organizations that stepped up to help were basically turned away, and the local high school teacher was misled into thinking that he would be housing the animals before their adoption when in fact AC transferred ownership and financial responsibility to him. AC did not inspect the high school’s barn before sending animals there, yet animal welfare should be one of its main responsibilities.

This situation was entirely avoidable given the money and effort that was offered by volunteers who were mobilized from North Carolina and elsewhere. The actions of the county employees have created unfortunate consequences for these animals, tarnished the county’s reputation, and angered the rescue groups and volunteers who are seeing firsthand the result of their incompetence, lack of caring, or both.

We are requesting

A full financial report of the donations received, and expenses incurred by the Rutherford County Animal Control from August 7, 2020 until present

All emails to and from Kathy Hamilton and James Kilgo dated between August 7, 2020 and August 31, 2020

An investigation into the actions of the AC employees and appropriate disciplinary action for the following:

Misleading the public while working on behalf of the county

Causing animal suffering and death

Misdirecting donated money and resources

Transferring financial responsibility for the pig’s care to another unknowing county organization

An investigation by the Department of Agriculture of the Future Farmers of America program and specifically the barn at the Chase High School at 1603 Chase High Rd in Forest City, NC. The program should be shut down if the barn is found to be uninhabitable.

 This petition and Public commentary and concerns will and may be shared to the following individuals:

Rutherford County Animal Control Supervisor: James Kilgo

County Manager: Steve Garrison

County Commissioners: Bryan King, Greg Lovelace, Michael Benfield, Alan Toney, and Eddie Holland

NC Department of Agriculture Veterinary Division