GREAT FALLS – 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 pleaded not guilty Monday to aggravated animal cruelty.
Jon M. Carman, a rancher southwest of Dodson, 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 said 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.