An appeal for information has been issued after more than 20 large green crates full of putrid, decomposing chicken carcasses and other waste meat were dumped in various locations on the outskirts of Darlington.
Darlington Borough Council received a report from a member of the public on 14 November that chicken carcasses had been dumped by a picnic area off the A68.
Civic Enforcement Officers attended the scene, where they found more carcasses dumped next to a bin in a layby on the A68. Details were passed to the council’s Trading Standards’ animal health team for further investigation.
A few days later, the council received another report that crates of chicken carcasses had been found in a layby on the B6275, just off the A68.
Officers from the Trading Standards animal health team attended and found yet more crates of carcasses, together with other waste meat, further down the road.
On 23 November, Civic Enforcement Officers discovered more carcasses had been dumped in a layby on the A68. All the carcasses and meat found have been removed for disposal.
Dawn Taylor, Darlington Borough Council’s Trading Standards and Animal Health Manager, said:
“Whoever dumped these carcasses, which appear to have been professionally prepared, has probably done so to avoid the cost of proper, legal disposal. We will work with council colleagues and other agencies to search for the culprits and bring them to justice.
“We would urge anyone who has information that could help us identify those responsible, or sees anything suspicious to come forward.”