Erin Caviola: Woman claims hunter Mike Konschak shot, beheaded, and skinned her 2 German Shepherds after mistaking them for wolves
FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT: A Connecticut woman has claimed that a hunter from Putnam County, New York shot her two German Shepherds before beheading and skinning them after mistaking them for wolves. Erin Caviola of Ridgefield reported that her pet dogs, Cimo and Lieben, went missing from her home last year after they jumped over the part of her six-foot tall fence that had been pulled down.
The Department of Energy & Environmental Protection said that they believe a bear damaged the fence, and Caviola insisted that this allowed her pet dogs to escape. “In the middle of the night, we had a bear break down part of our fence because we have beehives on our property, and the dogs must’ve run out,” Caviola told News 12. Speaking to the outlet, Caviola said she found out that her pet dogs, both 10, were shot on November 18, on property that borders hers after receiving a call from an individual on December 12. She was informed that a hunter had shared images of the dogs after they had been shot, then skinned and beheaded.
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'This is horrific'
“This is horrific. It has been absolutely devastating. We don’t know how this can happen, to look at these two beautiful animals and do that,” she said. “The pictures that we got was them posed on the ground, laying there, and you could clearly see that they both had been shot in the chest,” she told Fox 5. Caviola and her family had previously spent weeks searching for the dogs and even received help from their community.
'This was a little different'
The Department of Energy & Environmental Protection has arrested the hunter, Mike Konschak. Caviola has created change.org petition where she argues that Konschak should face animal cruelty charges and have his hunting license revoked. At the time of writing, more than 66 thousand people have signed. "When you put an animal to sleep, you can comfort them," she said. "This was a little different. It's the act of them being shot and killed but the act of what happened to them after is very concerning to us."
Caviola said that Konschak has been charged with forgery, evidence tampering, and violations of hunting regulations. He is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday. Caviola and her family have buried their "super smart, very affectionate" pet dogs in their backyard. "We were hoping to have many more memories from them," said Caviola, as per Fox news.