CORINTH, Vt. (AP) – A goat farmer is being held at the St. Johnsbury prison on $5,000 bail after he violated court-ordered conditions of release for his animal cruelty case.

Vermont State Police said in a news release Wednesday that they responded to a report that Chris Weathersbee’s goats had left his property, but offered no additional details.

Weathersbee has pleaded innocent to 15 counts of animal cruelty. One of the conditions of release was that his goats could not get out of their fences, a source of aggravation for neighbors.

June King, one of Weathersbee’s neighbors, said some people in town were going to check on the animals. “If there’s no food and nobody there to feed them, what do we do?” she said.

Weathersbee, who describes himself as a monk and lives with the animals like a nomadic sheep herder, has said he won’t give up the goats because he’s sure some will be slaughtered.

AP-ES-09-02-04 1120EDT