(Victoria, MS) An unsettling sight in Marshall County has farmers worried: nine dead cows thrown on the side of the road in the town of Victoria.

The sheriff’s department is hunting for the people responsible.

When farmers got wind about the dead cows lying on the side of the road, they became concerned, worrying that whatever diseases these cows died of could be passed downstream to their own cattle.

“The main thing is we don’t know what these animals died from,” said Kelly McMillin, a criminal investigator with the Marshall County Sheriff’s Department.

Whatever it was, it killed at least nine cows that ended up dumped, heaped on top of each other on Buchanan Road.

Marshall County deputies took pictures of each one and their tag numbers to track down who might have done this.

“To pull up and throw them in a ditch like this, it’s uncalled for.”

Many of the cows had vaccination tags still on them. The numbers indicate these cattle came from Florida, but detectives believe the cows died in Marshall County and someone local is responsible.

That person is now wanted by the sheriff’s department for the illegal dumping and the health risks they posed to people and other animals around.

“We have a dump area in Holly Springs where you can dig a hole and bury these animals.”

Farmers in Victoria tell WREG that seeing the cows makes them wonder what kind of diseases could have come to Marshall County.

The Mississippi Vet Office will now take the cows and possibly test them to see what caused them to die.

“Several years of being investigator, investigating several types of crime – state, local and federal, I have never seen anything like this before,” said McMillin.

Farmers say they hope they never see something like this again.

The Marshall County Sherriff’s Department says they already have some leads on this case and will be interviewing people Thursday night.