A Minnesota man has been charged with mistreatment of animals after he allegedly lured his neighbor’s dogs so he could shoot them.
Craig Allen Reichel is facing two counts of mistreatment of animals and two counts of third-degree damage to property in connection to an incident that took place on January 6, according to KAAL TV.
An Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office deputy responded to a call for service after an adult male told the deputy that his two dogs had left the property around 7:30 p.m. the night before, according to court documents viewed by the outlet.
The man said he had contacted a neighbor and asked if she saw the dogs. The neighbor then asked Reichel, 67, who also claimed he didn’t see the dogs.
The neighbor searched for the dogs and found a blood trail near a deer carcass pile on Reichel’s property which led to the discovery of his dead Great Pyrenees, according to court documents. Meanwhile, the man’s other dog, a Goldendoodle, was still missing.
The deputy contacted Reichel to ask if he knew how the dog ended up there, and he admitted to shooting the dogs around 8 p.m. the night before. He claimed he shot the dogs because they were chasing deer and threatening his own dogs.
Reichel said he did not know where the Great Pyrenees ended up, though he took the Goldendoodle to the creek on his property to dispose of the body.
While speaking to the deputy a second time, he admitted to shooting his neighbor’s dogs and said that his own dogs weren’t actually outside at the time of the shooting. Instead, Reichel alleged that the dogs were running near deer on his property when he shot them.
Reichel then took the deputy and a conservation officer to the creek where he disposed of the Goldendoodle. The deputy saw a trail camera set up near the carcass pile, and he observed photographs that captured the dogs “standing next to the carcass pile calmly.”
The dogs “were not seen chasing deer or exhibiting any aggressive behavior on the trail camera photographs,” per the court documents.
The owner of the dogs also shared a follow-up statement with the deputy, explaining that the Great Pyrenees wouldn’t have been able to run for more than several strides due to ongoing hip pain. He also claimed that Reichel knew his dogs because they were regularly outside, while they also frequently sat near Reichel when he would mow the ditch along the highway.
It is not currently clear if Reichel has entered a plea or retained legal representation following his arrest. The Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to Us Weekly’s request for comment.
Reichel is scheduled to make his first court appearance on April 1.
