Investigation shows property, pile of dead birds in Sampson County belong to House of Raeford

The investigation into a massive pile of dead birds found in Sampson County woods was closed on Wednesday.

Heather Overton, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, said the dead birds and the site where the birds were temporarily dumped belonged to House of Raeford, a chicken processing company known for its bulk sales.

Photos taken last Saturday showed a mound of dead birds in the woods off Herring Road in Rose Hill. Overton said the site was 1 mile down a private road, away from public view and contact.

"We contacted House of Raeford and discovered that they had been having issues with processing waste disposal due to Valle Protein's rendering facility in Rose Hill being shut down for several days," Overton said.

House of Raeford spokesman Dave Witter said Valley Proteins' plant on Jan. 27 was "non-operational due to mechanical malfunctions," and repairs took longer than expected.

Instead, Overton said Valley Proteins had opted to use the Samspon County landfill to carry out their disposal contract with House of Raeford. Since the landfill was closed for evenings and the weekend, House of Raeford used property near Herring Road to "stage animal waste and dead birds to go to the landfill."

Residents who lived near Herring Road said the pile of dead birds was 20-30 feet long, and up to 600 chickens.

Overton said NCDA&CS told House of Raeford the animals needed to be removed within 24 hours per state regulations, which House of Raeford complied with.

Witter said the waste was loaded onto trucks and taken to the landfill.

"As of the morning of Feb. 7, cleanup of the temporary storage site was completed ... the rendering facility is now back in operation," Witter said in a statement, adding that Valley Proteins' rendering facility was also back in operation.