Chester County authorities investigate animal neglect allegations

CHESTER COUNTY, Tenn. — In a developing story, neighbors in Chester County say they’re concerned about the safety of their animals.

A social media post sparks attention and people in this neighborhood tell us a change is long overdue.

According to residents of Chester County who live near Luray, they have concerns regarding multiple dogs getting loose and what they say is a lack of supervision to keep them contained.

“The sheriff’s office has been made aware of an allegation concerning animal cruelty at a location here in the county. The name of the facility I can’t disclose at this time due to the fact that it is an ongoing investigation,” said Chief Deputy and Investigator with the Chester County Sheriff’s Department, Mark Griffin.

With this case currently under investigation, one neighbor speaks to us on this issue saying she wants to remain anonymous.

“The place has drastically went down as far as appearance and health and safety concerns with the amount of animals that they have loose in the neighborhood attacking other animals. Other livestock chasing children down the street,” said the neighbor.

Another neighbor says after numerous encounters with the people that live at this residence, she’s fearful of retaliation behind the attempts to bring a resolution to this situation.

“We’ve had deputies to the facility, they’ve made photographs. We’ve made reports. We collected a statement and we’re working with the district attorney’s office to try to come up with a resolution for this problem–something we’ve been dealing at this particular facility for some time now,” said Griffin.

According to Griffin, the person that lives at this place says after they saw pictures of their home surface on social media they reported it as a burglary because they noticed things taken from their home.

“I understand there may be more evidence out there and that’s what we’re working on. Trying to locate people that may have been on the property and they might be able to help us further that investigation,” said Griffin.

Griffin says if they determine that the owners of the animals were allowing the animals to roam at large then they would issue a citation. He says based on his current assessment, the dogs do seem to be healthy. This is still an ongoing investigation.

Most of the neighbors in the area we had a chance to speak with are relieved that law enforcement are now involved. We’ll be following this incident as more details become available.

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