Urban explorers find dead cows and sheep in Slaidburn field

Urban explorers have spoken about the horrific moment they stumbled across at least a dozen animals on an East Lancashire farm that were dead and decaying.

Debbie Farmer was exploring the farm for her urban exploring hobby and YouTube channel, Dark Explores.

Her trip to a seemingly abandoned farm in Slaidburn took a horrifying turn after discovering two dead cows and at least 10 dead sheep, lying on the ground in various states of decay.

A dead cow in a Slaidburn field (Image: Debbie Farmer)

It is not yet know how or why the animals died. 

The government’s Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) has been informed and said it investigates every potential animal welfare breach that is reported to it.

Debbie, from Pendlebury in Greater Manchester, said: “We are urban explorers and we explore abandoned and places and old buildings as a hobby.

“We stumbled across this site when we were in the area. We noticed that it looked very unlived in, with a battered caravan and old cars on site.

Dead sheep in a Slaidburn field (Image: Debbie Farmer)

“We took a wander down and that’s when we started seeing the dead sheep. It was quite horrific.

“We were absolutely shocked when we saw them and we just didn’t know what was going on.

“It was so strange that there were so many of them.”

A dead sheep in a Slaidburn field (Image: Debbie Farmer)

Debbie took videos and pictures of the animals, some of which appear to have curled up and died in their sleep.

She said: “At first we didn’t realise they were dead and it didn’t dawn on us that they weren’t moving until later.

“Some looked like they had just curled up and gone to sleep. Some animals had their eyeballs missing, presumably eaten by insects and other animals.

“One was in a horrific condition. You could see its jaw bone and some of its ribs.

“It’s awful to think that they might have suffered.”

Debbie said it was one of the worst things she had ever seen while urban exploring.

She said: “We have never come across such horror on an explore before and want to highlight this problem and get the help needed to remove these poor animals.

A dead sheep in a Slaidburn field (Image: Debbie Farmer)

“I am an animal lover and don’t seeing any animal hurt or in pain.

“Personally, I think somebody needs to be [held accountable] for this. Something like this shouldn’t have happened.”

Debbie added she spoke to a neighbouring farmer during their visit who was "visibly upset" about the dead animals, and said the owner of the land had died "but his family had not shown interest in taking the farm on".

A spokesperson for the APHA said: “We take breaches of animal welfare legislation very seriously and investigate every allegation that is reported to us. 

“We do not comment on individual cases. We will always take appropriate action where welfare regulations are breached.” 

Ribble Valley Council has been approached for comment.