Jennifer Hunnicutt, Oconee County Sheriff’s Office
Investigators in South Carolina who rescued animals abandoned on a property have revealed that 15 other creatures were found dead at the location. According to the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office, 36-year-old Jennifer Marie Hunnicutt, a Seneca resident, had not been spotted at the Alexander Road property for a month-and-a-half.
Authorities said Animal Control deputies first learned about the case in mid-March, when a welfare check reported that a goat was stuck in a fence and multiple animals were abandoned on the property.
“After receiving no response after knocking on the front door of the residence, the Animal Control Deputies observed two goats that were deceased on the property,” the sheriff’s office said. Things only got bleaker when a search warrant was executed: 15 animals in total were found dead — “four dogs, one cat, one Bearded Dragon Domesticated Lizard, one chicken and eight goats” — and six more — “one ram, one ewe, and four Pygmy Goats” — were found alive.
The dead animals were described as either decomposed or skeletal.
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Investigators did not immediately explain why they believe Hunnicutt abandoned the animals, but the misdemeanor abandonment and ill-treatment (overworking) charges in the case pale in comparison to the 15 felony animal torture charges the defendant faces.
Under South Carolina Law, a person who “tortures, torments, needlessly mutilates, cruelly kills, or inflicts excessive or repeated unnecessary pain or suffering upon an animal or by omission or commission causes these acts to be done, is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction, must be punished by imprisonment of not less than one hundred eighty days and not to exceed five years and by a fine of five thousand dollars.”
The sheriff’s office alleged that Hunnicutt’s omission was leaving the animals without adequate shelter and without the “necessities of life,” which under Palmetto State statute includes clean, drinkable water and food “sufficient to maintain a reasonable level of nutrition to allow for proper growth and weight.”
“Based on evidence gathered during the investigation, Hunnicutt was charged with depriving the animals of necessary sustenance and/or shelter, or by omission, which led the death of some of the animals,” the sheriff’s office said. “Hunnicutt was also charged with abandoning some of the animals without securing another owner or providing the necessities of life.”
Hunnicutt was bailed out of jail last Thursday after being hit with a $102,975 surety bond and 35 total charges, 15 of them felonies. Walhalla Magistrate court records reviewed by Law&Crime say that Hunnicutt was arrested last Wednesday, April 5. It’s unclear at this time if she has an attorney in this matter.
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