Man charged with animal cruelty after killing and eating his peacocks
A man on Florida’s Gulf coast has been charged with animal cruelty after authorities said he killed, cooked and ate two of his pet peacocks to spite a neighbour.
Craig Vogt, 61, was arrested on 23 September on a third-degree felony charge of aggravated animal cruelty, according to an affidavit from the Pasco County sheriff’s office, as the Miami Herald reported.
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The arrested man allegedly told investigators that he had killed the two peacocks because his neighbour kept feeding them. He had written the neighbour a letter telling her that he would continue to kill his pet peacocks if she kept feeding them “to prove a point”, according to the affidavit, which did not say how many peacocks he kept.
The man “admitted to killing the bird by cutting the bird’s neck out of spite, then bleeding it out, and then later eating the bird after cooking it in a frying pan”, the affidavit said.
Preventing custody
Vogt told the deputy he cut both birds’ necks out of spite, let them bleed out, and later ate the peacocks after cooking them in a frying pan.
While he was being taken to jail, the man told deputies that he would kill all of his pet peacocks upon release to prevent anyone from taking them, the sheriff’s office report said.
“While being transported to jail, the defendant stated that upon his release, he plans to kill all his pet peacocks to prevent anyone from taking custody of them,” the deputy wrote.
The Pasco County Sheriff’s office on Monday did not immediately respond to an inquiry about the fate of the remaining peacocks. An attorney of record for Vogt was not listed in online court filings, nor was a next court appearance for him immediately available.
Court papers show he requested a judge to appoint him an attorney. Vogt could not immediately be reached for comment. An online docket showed no attorney listed for the man.
