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Hi-Line Man Pleads Not Guilty to Starving 200 Goats to Death

By The Associated Press

Story Created: Mar 9, 2010 at 10:05 AM MST

Story Updated: Mar 9, 2010 at 10:22 PM MST

GREAT FALLS, Mont. - A Dodson-area rancher accused of starving 200 goats to death by locking them in a barn without food and water for more than a month has pleaded not guilty to aggravated animal cruelty.

Jon M. Carman was arrested after a neighbor alerted the Montana Department of Livestock on Feb. 4. A livestock investigator reported seeing dead adult and baby goats piled on top of each other in the barn. Three other goats had died with their heads stuck in a fence, and more dead goats were found in a stock
trailer.

Phillips County Sheriff Tom Miller says a few goats and two horses on the property survived.

Carman leased the land from a California man, and authorities are researching who is responsible for disposing of the animals.

If convicted, Carman faces up to two years in prison and a $2,500 fine. No trial date has been set.

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