PERU — The town has taken custody of cattle, goats, pigs, chickens and rabbits from 50 Stagecoach Road after an investigation showed they did not have “adequate shelter, food or water,” according to a court order requested by Animal Control Officer Eric Giroux.

Justice Philip Mohlar granted the order May 5 in Rumford District Court, the day it was filed.

The order names the defendants as Denise and Steven Letarte of Rumford, who Giroux said he understood were using the property to house the animals with permission from the property owners of record, Brian and Jennifer Lufkin.

According to the order, Giroux investigated a complaint he received Feb. 10 about possible mistreatment of animals at 50 Stagecoach Road. He found seven cattle, nine pigs, two goats, about eight rabbits and about 14 chickens at the property.

He had previously been there for an animal trespassing matter that Denise Letarte pleaded guilty to in September 2024, according to the court document.

In the fall of 2024, a Maine Animal Welfare Program officer and Giroux worked with Denise Letarte to clean up the property where the animals lived and to establish a feeding program for them because it appeared they were not being fed regularly.

Giroux went to the property several times in February and March and observed few signs the animals were being properly cared for, according to the judge’s order. After numerous attempts to reach the couple during that time, Giroux eventually talked with Denise Letarte who said she went twice a day to feed the animals.

On March 18, the officer installed a game camera on the property of an abutter and 10 days later the images showed no support of Letarte’s claims, Giroux wrote.

Giroux and Deputy Animal Control Officer Christa Powers went to the property April 28 where they said “the conditions of the animals there were inhumane,” the court document said.

Photos on the game camera showed four round bales of hay delivered in March but for the most part the truck was empty each time it arrived and left the property. The officers reported that it appeared the cattle had no visible source of grain, no running water, hay mixed in with manure and no adequate shelter.

Powers, a certified farrier, saw two goats, one with hooves so overgrown that it was walking on its knees.

An excess of rabbits were in an excrement-filled cage meant for two and appeared to not have adequate food and water. The pigs were in a “severely restricted” area and did not appear to have clean water or food, the order said.

Giroux, Powers and Oxford County Sheriff’s Deputy Erroll Andrews returned to the property May 3 where “the condition of the farm animals remained unchanged,” the order said.

Denise Letarte said Monday that she never received a written warning from the animal control officer.

She said she disagreed with most of Giroux’s comments in the court record, and that she fed them consistently.

“They were my babies,” she said.

The day after the custody order was granted, the town paid to have the animals taken to the Bolduc Correctional Facility in Warren where there is a farm program, Giroux said.

Town officials will decide what to do with the animals once they are restored to a normal healthy condition.

The Letartes were ordered to appear in Paris District Court on May 12 to show cause why the animals should not be taken and lost their case, Denise Letarte said.