Westport's Board of Health — embattled and dogged by demands for two members' resignations, including its chairman's, since revelations of what is believed to be the largest case of farm animal cruelty in the Northeast surfaced last month — says that while it's been “justifiably criticized,” its inspectors have been unfairly made the scapegoats for regulatory failures that go well beyond the scope of its responsibilities.

Westport’s Board of Health — embattled and dogged by demands for two members’ resignations, including its chairman’s, since revelations of what is believed to be the largest case of farm animal cruelty in the Northeast surfaced last month — says that while it’s been “justifiably criticized,” its inspectors have been unfairly made the scapegoats for regulatory failures that go well beyond the scope of its responsibilities.

More than 1,000 dead, dying and suffering animals were discovered after police were called to the farm to investigate after two dogs had attacked other animals there. It’s required a massive rescue effort for the neglected animals held on more than 20 rented lots there. The situation has understandably outraged animal rights activists and others concerned about the lack of care by the owners who were mainly raising the animals for slaughter.

John J. Colletti, the Board of Health chairman, and Karl W. Santos were stripped of their animal inspection powers by the state following a scathing investigation and report by the state Department of Agricultural Resources into the flawed and inadequate inspections they signed off on at the 70-acre tenant farm off American Legion Highway last winter. Unfortunately, the pair has not accepted much responsibility.

They also seem to have no intention of resigning — and they don’t have to because they are elected officials. Meanwhile, Westport has no recall mechanism for elected officials, so there is little recourse for concerned residents and town officials. Clearly, something needs to be done to bring greater accountability to the important function of public health inspections to protect both human and animal life.

The true culprit, board members told The Herald News, is that they are handcuffed by a narrow window of opportunity to conduct state inspections in November to December — when there is little activity on the farms — combined with a lack of teeth in local bylaws related to inspections of farms. The Board of Health says recommended bylaws that would have given them greater inspection powers and could have required the registration of the farm animals, could have made them better aware of the animals that were there. Those bylaws, they said, were proposed but voted down a few years ago.

While it is too late for the animals that died and suffered at the hands of cruel and careless owners and a regulatory system that failed both animals and humans on many levels, Westport officials and voters do have the power to fix some of these failures, which is what the Board of Selectmen says it intends to do in relatively short order.



Westport ought to consider whether it may be time to make important municipal functions, like the Board of Health, appointed positions rather than elected roles so that the best qualified candidates can be found and there is another layer of accountability. It also may make sense for the town to look into regionalizing such functions.

A criminal investigation into the incident is expected to take months to complete and the town is expected to launch its own investigation into the incident. In the meantime, the town ought to consider and approve beefed-up farm inspection bylaws recommended by the Board of Health — and potentially call a special Town Meeting to approve such measures quickly.

Meanwhile, the state, which also played a role in this regulatory failure, needs to look at its own shortcomings and make immediate recommendations to fix them. A series of legislative hearings could help get to the bottom of this mess, assign proper accountability, and ensure this type of incident does not happen again.