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November 24, 2007

Beagle skinned alive in Vinemont

By Noah Chandler

(NOTE TO READERS: To see a photo package about this story, click here. CAUTION: GRAPHIC CONTENT)



VINEMONT — A local family’s pet beagle was mutilated and left for dead, while a second dog escaped with lacerations after an apparent attack last Sunday morning.

“It is inhumane and I just can’t imagine anyone doing that to a living creature. I am just flabbergasted. I think whoever did this should be tied up and skinned,” said Janet Rodgers, owner of the dogs.

Neal Rodgers said he had let the family’s dogs, both beagles, run loose in a rural part of Vinemont located on County Road 1428 last weekend after an earlier hunt. Neal said he last heard his dogs running in the back lawn just after midnight. He said when he went to feed his dogs Sunday morning, three-year-old Anne walked up bleeding.

Neal Rodgers said when he first saw Anne he thought she had been hit by a car, but after a closer look he said it was clear someone skinned his dog alive. He said it looked the same as if a hunter would skin a deer.

“I can’t imagine who would do this,” Neal Rodgers said. “I have had bird dogs for years and never had anything like this happen.”

Rodgers said Anne had her coat removed from the nape of the neck to the base of the tail and down to the nipple line, all of which was done while she was alive. The second dog, three-year-old Buttercup, suffered minor lacerations around the neck and shoulder before apparently escaping.

The Rodgers took their dogs to Bruce Lee’s veterinary clinic, where Anne had to be euthanized because of severe trauma and a lack of skin for grafts.

“By far this is the most extreme case [of animal cruelty] I have ever seen,” Lee said. “I was not prepared for what I had to see. This was a totally awful sight.”

Lee said over his 21 years in the veterinary business he has never seen a more gruesome case.

“How can this be OK?” Lee said. “The only reason someone would do this is out of extreme torture. The amount of torture involved is incomprehensible. It is a brutal and hideous crime, and I hope I never have to see anything like it again.”

Janet Rodgers asked anyone with information to call the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office at 734-0342.

Sheriff Tyler Roden said the Sheriff’s Office is investigating the case and said more details will be made available when the investigation concludes. Roden said the act is a Class C Felony charge and carries a fine up to $5,000 and up to 10 years in prison.

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