Posted on 12/04/2007 11:52:02 PM PST by fella
Dog Found Shot, Skinned, Draped Over Gate In Madison County This article was published on Wednesday, November 28, 2007 10:54 PM CST in News By Bob Caudle THE MORNING NEWS
HUNTSVILLE -- Cats have nine lives. Raccoons and dogs only one -- short ones in Madison County.
Madison County Sheriff's Deputies are trying to figure out who killed, skinned and draped a large dog over a Huntsville High School teacher's gate east of town.
The incident comes less than a month after Jerick Hutchinson, another Huntsville High School teacher, killed a raccoon with a nail gun and skinned it as part of a class lesson.
Madison County Sheriff Phillip Morgan said the teacher who found the dog is suspected of turning in Hutchinson to the Humane Society for his treatment of the raccoon.
Adding insult to injury, the dog-adorned gate was also glued shut using Super Glue, forcing deputies to saw off the lock, Morgan said.
"Whoever did this to the dog thought this teacher turned the other one in," Morgan said. "Whether or not, she did, we don't know."
Morgan would not release the second teacher's name, saying the investigation is continuing.
"We're still working on it," Morgan said. "We haven't come up with anything yet. I've never heard of anything like this happening before."
Nobody has claimed ownership of the dog, Morgan said, which, being skinned, is difficult to identify.
The sheriff added his department is looking into the case as harassment. More charges might be added depending on the circumstances, he said.
The dog was placed on the fence sometime between 2 p.m. Thanksgiving Day and 11 a.m. Friday, sheriff's officials said.
News regarding the dog was not widely known Wednesday, but many people in Huntsville showed support for Hutchinson. Cars passed with "As a parent, we support Hutch," written in white on their rear windows.
At Huntsville Milling Co., a local gathering spot, patrons backed Hutchinson, but took a dim view about killing and skinning a dog.
"I think there's bigger problems in the schools than worrying about somebody skinning a raccoon," said David Cline, owner and operator of the milling company, echoing a consensus of the group in the building. "There are probably some poor kids in that school hungry enough to take that raccoon home and eat it."
Cline said people in Huntsville and Madison County, a predominately rural area, view raccoons as pests. The raccoon supplied to Hutchinson, for instance, had been live-trapped in a turkey house, police said.
"I haven't heard about the dog, but I don't agree with that," Cline said. "A dog or cat, something like that, those are pets."
Meanwhile, Hutchinson has been cleared of wrong-doing, according deputy Madison County Prosecutor Billy Allred.
"The (city) police took statements and conducted a normal investigation," Allred said Wednesday. "Based on their investigation, I didn't see where any criminal laws were broken. So no charges were brought against the teacher."
The raccoon incident prompted more than 600 e-mail to the Huntsville City Hall, urging the police to investigate incident and prosecute if laws were broken.
"All but a handful of the e-mails were form letters that said the same thing, just with a different name signed," said Janice Smith, city clerk. "I did get one from a student. It was in favor of the teacher."
Huntsville Schools Superintendent Alvin Lievsay said the school district is also finished with the incident involving Hutchinson.
"We investigated it according to policy," Lievsay said. "And we dealt with the teacher according to policy. It's an unfortunate thing and we wished it hadn't happened. But it did. We dealt with it. Now, it's over."
Lievsay said he'd only heard about the dog skinning, and was quick to note the school is not involved in that situation.
"I don't really know that much about the dog skinning," Lievsay said. "That happened off-campus and the police are investigating it."
I skinned the last coyote I shot. I doubt anybody could tell the carcass was not a dog...
Guess I should be watching more local news. I had not heard of this. Both of my daughters went to HHS years ago.
My wife graduated there in 68. We have land in the county and still have contacts there.
‘being skinned, is difficult to identify’
No fang imprints on record ?
My dad told me years ago when he was a kid, he used to hunt racoons and sell them for meat to some families who ate that. (He didn’t eat racoon, himself). He said he always had to leave a foot on, undressed, (unskinned), because they would accuse him of trying to sell them a skinned dog as a racoon. Apparently they look the same skinned.
I've got a buddy who likes to tell the story of when he was in college in a small town. One of his roommates shot a coyote and they were skinning it in the front yard. It was hanging from a tree in a partially skinned state when a woman walked by.
The boys yelled out "Hey, lady - is this your dog?". It turns out that the woman walking by HAD lost her dog a couple of days before. She called the cops, and the guys had to spend a half hour talking their way out of it. That was the first thing I thought of when I saw the story, and then of course your comment triggered mine.
Why? What's the difference between one object (a bullet or a hunting arrow) being propelled through an animal to kill it versus another (a nail)?
... But the hunters I've known are very responsible, respect nature and are true conservationists and don't kill animals wantonly or sadistically ...
Do you believe the raccoon in this case was killed “wantonly” or “sadistically”? I looked through several articles on the topic and found no statement that any cruelty was suspected.
In fact, the skinning was a previously scheduled demonstration for the students; the teacher was surprised because the student that brought in the subject animal showed up with a live specimen instead of a dead one; the teacher had previously worked in a slaughterhouse; and the teacher took the animal outside the building and away from view of the students before killing it.
What's the problem?
When I'd see a family of Foxes frolicking in the snow in my back yard, the first thing I thought was how beautiful they were and I thought it was good to have them around to keep the mouse and rat population down. The last thing I thought was, “Wonder if I could kill 'em with ma nail gun”.
OK, I think I see the problem now, but I don't think it's Jerick Hutchinson (the teacher in question) who has it.
When my attic became infested with Squirrels I had no qualms about calling in a trapper to get rid of them. But then I also didn't want to kill every Squirrel I saw.
And what leads you to believe anyone involved here wants otherwise?
Ooops maybe we’re talking about different Huntsville’s.
Where did this happen? I live in Huntsville, AL and I do not think this is where this happened. I went to the link and it did not even say which state it was printed in.
I live over near Moulton, and when I clicked on “The Morning News” link, it goes to a page that says “Local News for Northwest Arkansas”. But it’s really a strange coincidence that the city mentioned is Huntsville and it’s in Madison County, just like here, and I do remember hearing the story on the local TV news about the teacher shooting the coon with a nail gun, and I thought that happened here, so I just assumed that this story also happened in Huntsville, AL, but apparently not, possibly on either account. I’m SO confused!
That makes 2 of us.
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