Abandoned animals taken from Sullivan County property

BRISTOL, Tenn. – With a cold rain falling Friday, authorities seized a menagerie of animals at an abandoned Sullivan County home.

By 11:30 a.m., about a dozen vehicles with the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office and two animal rescue groups were parked in front of Jake Silcox’s house in the 3900 block of U.S. Highway 421.

Carrying a freshly obtained search and seizure warrant in his back pocket, one of the officers used a crowbar and bolt cutters to pop open a heavy black metal gate.

Once opened, others in the group drove their cars and trucks with trailers onto the property and started loading the assortment of animals that Silcox – a professional motorcycle racer with the All Harley Drag Racing Association – left behind nearly a month ago.

Reached at a phone number listed on a Web site for his Bristol business, Silcox Extreme Entertainment, Silcox said Friday night that the county’s action took him by surprise. He added that he was “shocked [and] just devastated” that his animals were taken. He said he made sure that neighbor Sid Arnold was there to feed them and offered to pay Arnold for his work. Arnold said in an earlier interview that he volunteered to provide some hay for the animals and Silcox had offered to pay him.

But despite the arrangement, the animals’ slowly deteriorating condition drew the concern of several members of the community, who gathered along Silcox’s fence
to watch Friday’s rescue.

“It’s about time they did something,” said a teenage girl who was wearing a pink hooded sweatshirt to keep warm from the freezing cold, rain and wind that swept the property and ushered in Friday’s snowfall. “I’ve called these people like 50 times.”

The girl, who held a small Yorkshire terrier under her sweatshirt, breathed a sigh of relief as each of the neglected animals was loaded into trucks. Silcox moved out of his house about a month ago, Arnold said, leaving six dogs, four llamas and three Shetland ponies behind the locked gate without any food and very little access to water.

“It looks like he just up and left,” Sheriff’s Capt. Mark Ducker told the Bristol Herald Courier after the rescue effort wrapped up Friday afternoon.

Ducker said his office has spent the past few weeks investigating Silcox and plans to file charges against him in the near future. He did not provide any further information about what the charges might be or when they might be filed.

The office’s top priority, he said, was getting a warrant that allowed them to go onto Silcox’s property and remove the animals – all of which appeared to be malnourished – so they could provide proper care and find them new homes.

Animal control officers captured four of the dogs and took them back to the Sullivan County Animal Shelter. They left food with Silcox’s neighbors for the remaining two canines, who jumped over a fence and fled the property during the rescue.

Lane said the dogs, whose ribs were clearly visible, looked like they could be brought back to health with food and medical attention. Once the process is completed, Lane said, county animal control officers will try to find new homes for the abandoned dogs.

The Knoxville-based Horse Haven of Tennessee took custody of the three Shetland ponies, Lane said, while the North Carolina-based Southeast Llama Rescue took care of three of the four llamas left behind on Silcox’s property.

“We found a dead llama in the garage,” Lane said, explaining what happened to the fourth animal.

In a Thursday interview, Arnold said Silcox moved this animal into the garage last month, after it was attacked by one of the dogs. That was the last time Silcox was seen at the house, Arnold said, adding “he ain’t been back since.”

gmclean@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2518