An SC woman left on a long work trip and came home to find 69 pet birds dead

A Charleston-area woman paid a man $150 a week to take care of her 76 birds while she was away. When she returned from a months-long work trip on Christmas Eve, most of them were dead, the Post and Courier reported.

Christie Chaplin, 56, of Ravenel, began traveling at the end of July and returned to find her home in a disheveled state, the Post and Courier said. Her birds had been going without food or water for a significant amount of time, according to a police report.

Chaplin had agreed to pay a man $150 a week to watch the birds, and she had checked in with that man multiple times via text while she was away, according to WTOC.

When she returned home, bags of food that she had purchased for the birds had not even been opened, WTOC reported. The home was covered in feces, and 69 of her birds were dead, the station said.

A Charleston County Animal Control investigator told The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette that the matter is still under investigation.

This story was originally published December 28, 2017 at 1:59 PM with the headline "An SC woman left on a long work trip and came home to find 69 pet birds dead."