His flocks are getting better care

Facing 30 counts, Watts rushes to tend to animals

GULF -- In a small pen covered by a tarp, veterinarian Kelli Ferris on Friday deftly flipped over a ewe to show David Watts how to trim the animal's hooves so that they did not rot and become infected.

"You have to keep the moisture out of there, you see?" Ferris said.

Lee County authorities brought Ferris, a trained animal cruelty investigator, to a rural tract north of Sanford owned by Watts, the suburban shepherd found to have 77 sheep sharing his Apex home.

He faces 30 misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty in Wake County. So far, 31 of the Apex sheep have been euthanized because they were in such poor health. The survivors, including a lamb born into the flock this week, have been placed in new homes.

Some of the animals' hooves had not been trimmed, allowing them to grow back around into the bottoms of their feet, causing painful abscesses. Some of the animals could walk only on their knees.

Another 66 sheep and goats were found in a remote area of Lee County on Wednesday, hemmed into a muddy corral at the end of a rutted gravel road nearly a mile long. They had no food or water, officials said.

In another nearby corral there were five horses, so thin their ribs were clearly visible through their shaggy, matted coats. They also had no food or water. There was no fenced pasture for them to roam or barn for refuge in poor weather.

After Lee County Health Director Mike Hanes stated publicly that additional cruelty charges could be forthcoming, Watts scrambled Thursday to improve the condition of the flock.

By the time Ferris arrived Friday, another veterinarian had been there to trim the sheeps' hooves and inject antibiotics to treat their infections.

The horses were no longer on the 180-acre property. Watts told the authorities they didn't belong to him, but to a friend. They had been moved north to Chatham County, he said.

"Though they are certainly not in an ideal situation, they were not as bad as what was found in Apex," Hanes said of the sheep. "He assured us they would have access to feed and water in the future."

Hanes said animal control officers would return periodically to confirm that Watts follows through on his promises to better care for the sheep.

It was the third set of animals authorities have discovered belonging to Watts, 47, a land speculator who owns parcels across central North Carolina.

John Sauls, the director of Chatham County Animal Control, expressed concern this week about the condition of nearly 60 sheep Watts has on land near Moncure, along with some cows, llamas and chickens.

Chatham officers consulted tax records in a search for other tracts where Watts might have animals. Sauls said he had not yet seen the horses from Lee County, but the veterinarian hired by Watts has assured him their condition is good.

"We don't have a situation here that rises to the level of misdemeanor cruelty," Sauls said. "We have a remediation plan in place and we are confident he will follow it."

(News researcher Lamara Williams-Hackett contributed to this report.)