A woman says she is appalled and wants answers after two goat carcasses were left in a ditch near her West Chezzetcook, N.S. home.

Rhonda Mathieu says she was walking near her home last month when she made the disturbing discovery.

“I thought they were deer originally, but as I started looking at the animals, I realized that they were full-grown goats,” she says.

The RCMP were called to the scene on April 20 and officers taped off a guardrail near the site, but decided it wasn’t a police matter in the end.

“It can be disconcerting for people to see that on the side of the road because it’s different – it’s not a deer or anything like that – so it’s something unusual for them,” says RCMP Cpl. Jennifer Clarke. “But I can assure you it’s nothing suspicious.”

Three weeks later, the carcasses remain, and Mathieu says they have decomposed quite a bit since then. She says it’s a gruesome sight for children and adults who live and walk in the area.

“It is a mystery. It’s bizarre. Nothing like this, I don’t think, has ever been seen or found in this area,” she says. “It’s just not something that you would typically find on the side of the road.”

Mathieu says she isn’t aware of any goats in the West Chezzetcook area and has no idea how the carcasses ended up there.

Regardless of how they got there, she wants someone to take responsibility and move them, but Nova Scotia’s Natural Resources Department says the matter is out of its hands because the animals aren’t obstructing traffic.

The Department of Transportation says staff visited the site Thursday morning, but have decided to let nature run its course since there is no risk.

While the carcasses pose no danger to the public, Mathieu says she doesn’t understand why they can’t be removed and disposed of properly.

“It’s gruesome. It’s awful. I wouldn’t advise anyone to walk along here.”

With files from CTV Atlantic's Suzette Belliveau