CHESTERFIELD, S.C. - 38-year-old Pageland resident Frankie Bowers was assigned to the Chesterfield County Animal Shelter in January to work off $1,000 in back child support.  Bowers says he witnessed the shootings of about 40 dogs and at least 15 cats.  The county adopted a lethal injection policy about a year ago.

FOX Charlotte's Morgan Fogarty asked Bowers, "Did you ever see them, during your time there, ever lethally inject an animal?" Bowers says, "No. Never. Not one time."

Bowers says he was instructed to feed, water and clean the animals.  It was also his job to take a front-end loader over to a dirt area across the street and cover the dead animals with dirt.  He found one dog still alive.  Bowers says, "The dog was still sitting up on it's haunches and it was bleeding everywhere and they done (sic) shot him in the head a few times and the dog was still alive and he was in misery and you could tell he was suffering."

He says the cats didn't fare any better.  "If they (the county employees) couldn't catch them (the cats), they would hit them over the head to knock them out." Fogarty asked, "With what?" Bowers reply: "A pipe."

The Department of Health and Environmental Control classifies the dumping area as an "un-permitted landfill" and we are told the dumping of animal bodies has not been allowed for years.  A DHEC spokesman tells FOX  that directive was "lost" when the shelter was transferred to the sheriff's office several years ago. DHEC says they reminded them this week, telling FOX Charlotte, "We met with Chesterfield County officials on Monday and advised them that they need to begin disposing of dead animals in a permitted landfill immediately."

On Tuesday, Sheriff Sam Parker said, "We've already been notified that we've gotta stop putting them in this location and so we're gonna move to another county." Fogarty asked, "When will that happen?"  Parker replied, "Hopefully once everything is established, we're gonna do some new procedures and hopefully by April or May of this year, we'll begin that."

Bowers, who was convicted of burglary in the past and is currently charged with a gun violation, says he's worried about retaliation for speaking out.  But he's more worried that he and other inmates who worked at the shelter will be blamed for shooting the animals, something he calls impossible.  "If it is, they need to check into something because how would inmates be standing out there with guns?" wonders Bowers.

We called the Sheriff at his office and on his cell phone Thursday and did not hear back.  We also reached out to the four men who are still on administrative leave while SLED investigates. No one replied.