By Betsy Finklea
If you live in the Latta area or if you are a regular visitor to Latta, then you have more than likely seen the goats in front of the farmhouse of Bill and Carol Epps going out of Latta accompanied by their goatherder, Bill.
For a little over six years, this has been a common sight for those who travel by, but on Wednesday of this week, everything changed.
Bill and Carol went to lunch. Their goats were safely put up or so they thought, and when they returned home, they found that tragedy struck. Their goats had been attacked by dogs. Their favorite goats, Brownie and Daisy Mae, died. They watched “helplessly” while Brownie lost his life, Carol said. Two other goats, Chester and Butterscotch, were injured, another goat, Oreo, was completely missing, and another goat, Barry, was in the barn with minor injuries. They laid Brownie and Daisy Mae to rest on their property, and the other goats were attended to by a veterinarian.
They made a report with the Dillon County Sheriff’s Office. Bill and Carol were “heartbroken,” but the tragedy didn’t stop there.
Barry would not return to the barn Wednesday night and spent the night in the front yard eventually winding up on the front porch.
The next day on September 4th, they went to check on the goats only to find that there was another attack. “That night the dogs came back and ripped off the stall door,” Carol said. “The goats were sitting ducks. Oreo and Chester were mauled and killed. Butterscotch is terrorized as he watched it all from the hay bin. Barry was safe on the front porch. Neither one will leave the porch. Thank God, they are locked up on porch,” she said. Barry and Butterscotch have not returned to the barn. Carol said they laid Chester and Oreo to rest with Daisy Mae and Brownie on Thursday.
On September 5th, they were able to get a dog trap box from the Dillon County Sheriff’s Office Animal Control. The remaining goats wouldn’t leave the front porch so they allowed them to stay there and closed the gate, but then this morning, Saturday, September 6th, the dogs came back, but weren’t successful into getting on the porch. “This morning the dogs came to the front at 9:00. They are medium-sized dogs–one mostly white with black patches and short hair. The other one is long hair mediums-sized dog, brownish red in color,” Carol said. “These do not appear to be wild dogs as they are well-groomed, clean, and well-fed.”
If you know the whereabouts of these dogs or who the owner may be, please call 9-1-1 and ask to speak to the Dillon County Sheriff’s Office Animal Control or a deputy.
Pictured are Bill and the goats during happier times.
Owners ‘Heartbroken’ and ‘Devastated’ As Dogs Keep Mauling and Killing Their Goats
