BY ROGER SMITH
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN

INEZ — By the time deputies arrived Dec. 16 at a home on Thickety Fork Road, the report was already grim: dogs tied behind the house, no longer alive, left unseen and unreported for days, possibly weeks.

Law enforcement arrested Phillip D. Butcher, 73, of Inez, on a charge of second-degree cruelty to animals.

Martin County Sheriff John Kirk and deputies went to Butcher’s address on Thickety Fork around 7:10 p.m. to investigate a complaint of deceased dogs tied up behind the home.

Upon their arrival, Butcher advised the officers that three dogs were dead behind the house. He directed them to the location of the dogs.

Butcher also reportedly told law enforcement the dogs belonged to his ex-girlfriend, who he said left them there. He further said he “stopped fooling with them and stopped feeding them a while ago.”

Butcher said he tried to call his ex-girlfriend to ask her to get the dogs.

Authorities noted that he never reported the dogs to officials.

After being taken into custody, Butcher allegedly told law enforcement that he had been informed four to five days earlier that the dogs were dead behind his house and had been shot. He then stated he was told the dogs had been deceased for approximately two weeks, deputies said.

The case remains under investigation by the sheriff’s office.

Editor’s note: All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.