Cape Woman Accused Of Stabbing Sheep, Dead Animals Found In Her Barn

HARWICH, MA — A Cape woman is facing more than a dozen animal cruelty charges after Harwich police said she admitted to stabbing her own sheep in their throats and a dozen dead animals were found in "deplorable" conditions in her barn.

Police said on Tuesday they responded to a complaint about neglected, and possibly dead animals, in a barn on Chatham Road.

Police said when the animal control officer and another police offer arrived they questioned the owner about the sheep and that she told them she had killed them earlier Tuesday morning by "stabbing them in the throat."

In the barn, police found two sheep dead from stab wounds and a third sheep that was alive but later had to be euthanized.

"The conditions in the barn were deplorable and there was a lack of food and water," police said. "Further investigation revealed an additional 12 dead animal carcasses in the barn that were in varying forms of decomposition."