U.P. Hunters face torturing charges in circuit court
UPDATE — 5:03 p.m. Monday, June 22, 2015 (EDT)
Two men accused of letting dogs maul an injured coyote last year, recently had their cases bound over to circuit court.
The video that we are going to show you momentarily, which is file video we received last year courtesy of the U.S. Humane Society, does contain some graphic content.
According to court documents, 45-year-old Dale Allen of Ironwood and 34-year-old Jason Roberts, also of Ironwood, are due back in Gogebic County Circuit Court July 7th.
Allen has been charged with felony torturing of an animal and four other misdemeanor counts. Roberts also faces the same felony torturing count and two additional misdemeanors. Both men were allegedly involved in videotaping an injured coyote being mauled by several hunting dogs during the winter of 2014.
June 12, 2014 GOGEBIC COUNTY, Mich. —
A U.P. coyote hunter’s conduct is being called into question. The man, who is still anonymous at this point, shot a coyote several times in Ironwood this past winter before having his dogs come in to finish off the job.
Hounding coyotes is permitted in Michigan, but the United States Humane Society feels, in this case, an ethical line was crossed as the hunter encouraged his dogs to rip apart the defenseless creature while filming the ordeal in front of a child.
You can see the edited portion of the video the Humane Society posted earlier today in the clip below, but please be advised the content is gruesome and may not be appropriate for children.
A longer version that was posted to mLive’s website, along with an in-depth article written by John Barnes, has been sent to the Gogebic County Prosecutor’s office. Court officials confirmed with ABC 10 that they will be reviewing the tape for any possible charges.
