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Workers cleaning up shore find beheaded animals

Staff photo by JIM FARQUHAR

Janet Wilson, left, and her daughter, Janette, help pick up trash along the Courtney Campbell Causeway Saturday morning.

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The Associated Press

Published: September 20, 2009

Updated: 09/20/2009 09:45 am

TAMPA - Volunteers participating in a coastal cleanup Saturday along the Courtney Campbell Causeway made an unexpected discovery - the mutilated carcasses of a goat and two chickens.

The animals had been decapitated and discarded along the shore of Old Tampa Bay. In the same area, a volunteer found a machete and what he described as a voodoo pole, a large stake with one end decorated with shells that made a face.

A Tampa Police spokesman said he wouldn't speculate how the items ended up on the shore. "It's an ongoing investigation," said Tampa police Lt. Brian Dugan, who said they have no leads and no witnesses.

About 400 volunteers filled bags with litter along the causeway as part of International Coastal Cleanup. They were among more than 3,000 volunteers who spent their Saturday morning clearing debris and litter from Hillsborough County's riverbanks and shorelines.

Last year, volunteers collected 51,945 pounds of trash in Hillsborough County, organizers said. The most common item found was cigarette butts.

"It would be nice if people cleaned up after themselves but it's not a perfect world, so this helps the environment and I like contributing," said Karla Brown, a Williams I.B. Middle Magnet seventh-grade science teacher who brought 50 students with her.

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