An Oregon ranching couple was fined nearly $18,000 last week for creating an illegal burn pile that included 40 dead animals, according to a Friday report.

A fire department in Lebanon, Ore., responded in May to a large unattended burn on property owned by ranchers Mark and Bethany Wahl, the Statesman Journal reported.

In a penalty order made public last week, officials with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality [DEQ] said the pile contained at least 35 dead cattle and five dead sheep.

It also contained decomposable garbage, plastics, asphaltic materials, furniture, and petroleum products. Open burning of all those materials was prohibited at all times everywhere in the state, the officials said.

The Wahls operated a beef cattle and sheep ranching facility in nearby Albany, about 70 miles southwest of Portland. They held a permit from the Oregon Department of Agriculture allowing them to operate a confined animal feeding operation with up to 1,092 animals, reports said.

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Among the permit's requirements was the proper disposal of dead animals. Animal carcasses could not be burned in the open.

The permit was canceled earlier this month at Mark Wahl's request, DEQ spokeswoman Andrea Cantu-Schomus said.

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Mark Wahl told the Journal that the couple was appealing the fine and declined to comment further.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.