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Two Canines Hanged And Skinned, Michigan State Police Informed, Residents Search Missing Dog Reports

By Dawn Papple
Published on: 08:30 PST, Oct 25, 2014

Mary McIntire was disgusted when she found the skinned bodies of two large dogs that had been apparently hanged by their feet in Newaygo County. What is being described as a gruesome find along a road in a rural area has been checked out by Michigan State Police, according to WZZM. The skinned bodies were discovered Thursday near White Cloud, dumped on South Laurel Avenue.

“I must have been moments away from someone who dumped them,” McIntire told the news. “There’s no ears, they took them completely off — kind of reminds me of Jeffrey Dahmer… you know? It’s how serial killers start.”

McIntire said she was disturbed because the dogs had been tied up and purposely skinned. Many have mentioned that the dogs found skinned and hanged from a tree were probably coyotes that were improperly disposed of.

“He came out, looked, but didn’t write anything down,” Ashley Shaner, a resident who also saw the skinned dogs in the woods, said of the police investigation. “The rope and feet are what got me the worst, because someone had to hang them to skin them. Stripped all the way down through the nose even.”

Shaner took photos of the dead dogs. The dogs still had ropes around their feet. She said that no officer responded to the first call, but an officer did come out when her husband called the next day. The concerned residents are waiting to see if the Michigan State Police investigates the matter further. Meanwhile, they are monitoring social media sites to see if anyone in the Newaygo County area have reported missing large-breed dogs.

“They may of been coyotes that were not disposed of properly,” Jim Peterson said. “When you skin one you take all the hide from the foot pads to the nose, but you don’t just leave the carcass just hanging from a tree.”

“As a taxidermist I dispose of my carcasses properly and so should anyone handling them. Its honor in your work and what you do, but we all know the saying no honor among thieves,” a taxidermist from Walkerville, Michigan, wrote to WZZM. “Also to the news team, I love hearing stories first hand, but sometimes more facts need to be checked before hand to ensure an accurate story. I can’t imagine anyone needing even the nose of an animal unless they are selling the hides and I have never seen dog hides for sale on any taxidermy forum.”

“The report said dogs. Noses and ears are not taken off Coyotes,” one commenter wrote.

McIntire said on Facebook that she took a hair sample in case someone was willing to do DNA testing on the carcasses to determine what kind of dogs they were.

The DNR Wildlife division was also notified of the hanged and skinned dogs. According to the residents who supplied the photos, the DNR officers can’t tell by the images if the dogs were domestic animals or coyotes. DNR will be investigating the discovery of the hanged dogs to determine if a crime was committed or if the dogs were legally hunted coyotes, skinned for their pelts.

[Photo via Facebook]

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