Woodford County sheriff's deputies said the bodies of 16 horses, as well as dead dogs, cats, and chickens, were found on a farm on Woodlake Road around 4 p.m. Monday.
Animal control officers said the owner of the animals, Cheryll Jeffers, 59, claimed many died from disease.
"She's stating that some of the horses passed from botulism...some of the dogs died from parvo. We'll be looking into all the statements that she gives us," said Woodford County Animal Control Supervisor Susan Jones.
Officers took a dead horse from inside one of the farm's barns, and sent it to University of Kentucky's Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory Tuesday.
Billy Wright, who disposes of animal carcasses for a living and transported this one, said this is one of the worst cases he's ever seen.
"For something like this...you don't get used to that. Going out on a barn, picking up a dead one...that...you get used to that. But this kind of thing...you don't get used to that," he said.
Jeffers declined to comment on the animals. As of this writing, there are no charges placed against her.
As for the surviving animals, animal control said they're in the process of removing the smaller ones. For the time being, they said, the 30 remaining horses will stay.
