Sheep owner makes court appearance

APEX -- The suburban shepherd who shared his downtown Apex house with 77 sheep spent the night in jail Tuesday and made his first court appearance this afternoon on 30 counts of cruelty to animals.

David Watts, wearing jail-issue gray and white stripes, was brought before Wake District Court Judge Jane Gray. His attorney, Josh Hansen, asked the judge to release Watts under his own supervision pending trial.

Gray refused, but she agreed to reduce Watts' bail from $30,000 to $12,000.

Hansen said he expected his client would soon be able to post bail in that amount. Watts is a land speculator who owns land across North Carolina, the lawyer said.

As Watts was led from the courtroom, another inmate awaiting a turn before the judge loudly bleated like a sheep, earning Gray's ire.

Hansen said afterward that his client never had any intent of harming the animals.

"He was really thinking he was doing the best thing for those animals," the lawyer said. "I think he got in over his head."

In an interview Tuesday before his arrest, Watts denied that he had abused his flock. He said that so many lambs were born this year that he was a little overwhelmed.

"It was just bad timing for me," Watts, 47, said. "I just got hit with the extra animals this year that needed extra supervision."

Veterinarian Kelli Ferris, who examined the sheep that Watts surrendered to Wake County animal control officers Monday, said that some in the flock showed signs of serious neglect that had been continuing for many months, probably years.

So far, 30 of the sheep have been euthanized after it was determined they were too sick to recover.

Meanwhile, an investigation has opened in Chatham County, where officials found 60 more sheep owned by Watts, along with a couple of cows and llamas.

Chatham animal control officers returned to Watt's land near Moncure Wednesday, bringing in a veterinarian to examine the sheep on that property.

John Sauls, Chatham's animal control director, said that the hooves of some of those animals had not been trimmed and were in danger of getting the sorts of infections suffered by several sheep in the Apex flock.

However, state law does not give officers the authority to seize animals, which are considered the private property of their owners, unless they can show they would otherwise die within hours.

"None of their lives are in danger," Sauls said of the sheep. "Clearly they are being feed and watered. They have shelter, as much as that is necessary. The feet are the big issue. Some of the sheep show signs they are having trouble walking."

Sauls said he had been unable to speak to Watts, but he said he would seek a written agreement with Watts for proper veterinary care for his flock. Sauls said his department would continue to monitor the condition of the sheep in the future.

Ferris said the condition of Watts' sheep was among the worst she had ever seen.

The hooves of some in the flock had never been trimmed, allowing them to grow so long they curled back around under the bottoms of the feet -- resulting in open, infected sores that caused the sheep to walk on their knees.

Sheep skulls and bones were scattered in the small backyard pens where the animals apparently died and were left to rot. The decomposing carcasses of several other sheep and newborn lambs were found in a nearby compost pile.

"It was a pretty terrible situation," said Ferris, an assistant professor at N.C. State University's College of Veterinary Medicine. "Many of these sheep had deep infections into the bones of their feet. It is very, very painful. ... Many of the sheep had big, deep abscesses on their chests where they had been down so much, dragging themselves."