Hunter shoots and skins 'coyotes' - then discovers they are family's pet dogs
A hunter shot and skinned a family's two German Shepherds after he thought the animals were coyotes.
Michael Konschak, 61, from Carmel in New York, US, said he never wanted to hurt family dogs during a court appearance at the Danbury Superior Court on Wednesday.
He said: "Please know that it was never my intent that morning to harm the victims' pets."
Police with the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection arrested Mr Konschak in February on charges including tampering with evidence, forgery, interfering with a law enforcement officer and hunting-related violations.
The suspect, according to an arrest affidavit, told police he killed the dogs with a crossbow on November 18 after the pets had escaped from Erin Caviola's family garden.
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Mr Konsachak had been out hunting deer when he thought he saw two coyotes.
Erin Caviola, the owner of 10-year-old male named Cimo and a female named Lieben, had been searching for weeks to try and their pet dogs.
Michael Konschak told authorities he killed and skinned what he thought were two coyotes (AP)
The family dogs Cimo and Lieben who were killed (AP)They put up missing flyers after a bear was thought to have ripped a section of the 6ft fence allowing the dogs to escape.
The devastated family found about the dogs nearly a month later after Erin found pictures of them online after a taxidermist was asked to preserve them.
She said the family was heartbroken: "We live with the emotional pain as we think about what they felt in their final moments lying beside each other dying.
“It has been absolutely devastating. We don’t know how this can happen, to look at these two beautiful animals and do that."
The suspect claims he thought the dogs were coyotes (Getty Images/iStockphoto)In addition, she said the dogs' heads had been removed and are still missing.
Brian Romano, Mr Konsachak's lawyer, revealed his client thought he had skinned the coyotes for their pelts and that the dogs' deaths were an accident.
The hunting and trapping of coyotes is legal in Connecticut.
Animal rights advocate have demanded Mr Konsachak face an additional charge of animal cruelty - which has not been ruled out.
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Erin Caviola said she is heartbroken after her pet dogs were killed (AP)Danbury State's Attorney David Applegate confirmed more charges are possible after he told the court there were inconsistencies in the suspect's story.
He also questioned how Mr Konsachak could not see the animals were dogs before skinning them.
Mr Konsachak applied for a special probation program that could have resulted in the charges being erased, but a judge rejected that request Wednesday.
The respiratory therapist and air force veteran will reappear in court next month.
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