The dumping of around a dozen dead calves and sheep on a quiet Co Tyrone country road has been branded a “disgrace”.
The rotting carcases of up to ten dead calves and sheep were discovered at Alderwood Road, near Fivelmiletown, on Good Friday.
The body parts of other animals have also been thought to have been left in bags.
The side road is popular with local walkers who were shocked to find the unfortunate animal that had recently been dumped in a small roadside embankment.
Mid-Ulster independent republican candidate Kevin McElvogue said he was contacted by local residents and in turn alerted officials from the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA).
He said several of the decomposing animals, which include dead sheep and suspected lambs, have rolled into a small river close to the road.
He was critical of those who left the dead animals to rot.
“It’s a total shame, it’s a disgrace that they would do the like of this,” he said.
“When you see ten dumped, that’s not just an ordinary farmer dumping one calf.
“Why didn’t they bury them, put them into the abattoir or incinerate them?”
Mr. McElvogue raised other potential health concerns.
“There’s a wee river that runs along the bottom and there is some of this stuff in the river, it’s polluting the waterway.
“That’s probably for humans to drink on down somewhere.
“But animals are drinking that water, there’s no doubt about that, on down somewhere else too.”
He said the number of animals dumped may give rise to other animal welfare concerns.
“It’s an awful thing for ten calves to die on one farm,” he said.
The Clogher Valley candidate confirmed a DAERA official visited the site on Friday.
DAERA has been contacted.