This alert is no longer active, but here for reference. Animals still need your help.

A Connecticut family has been left heartbroken and traumatized after their two 10-year-old German Shepherds were both killed with a crossbow, beheaded, and skinned by a hunter audaciously claiming he thought they were coyotes. Urge the state's attorney to prosecute this case to the fullest, and add charges for animal cruelty.

On November 18, 2022, the Caviola family's dogs Cimo and Lieben escaped from their yard after the fence had been damaged. The family searched frantically for weeks, only to learn later that they had been killed on an adjacent property shortly after escaping — and only then because a good Samaritan came forward after seeing images that were shared of their remains.

In February of 2023, police with the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection arrested Michael Konschak on charges including tampering with evidence, forgery, interfering with a law enforcement officer, and hunting-related violations.

Konschak amazingly claimed he thought they were coyotes and was also hunting illegally on property he had forged permission to be trespassing on. He claimed he shot the first dog with a crossbow with a scope from about 20 yards away, and that the second dog ran away. When he tried to approach the dog he killed, heartbreakingly the second came back and approached “in an aggressive manner with its head down and bearing (sic) teeth,” so he shot that one too.

He also tried twice to have the dogs taxidermied but was turned away both times over concerns the remains were dogs. After being denied the first time, he returned home and skinned them himself, and took their skins to someone else.

He also claimed to have discarded Cimo and Lieben's remains on the property where they were killed, but nothing turned up. Police believe he discarded what was left of the dogs after learning of their investigation.

The family has bits and pieces of their beloved dogs that were found by investigators, but not their heads.

Last month, Konschak's application for accelerated rehabilitation, which is a diversion program for first-time offenders that would have dismissed the charges and wiped his record clean, was denied. Konschak has not yet been charged with animal cruelty, but Danbury State's Attorney David R. Applegate said it's being considered. We must make that happen!

This alert is no longer active, but here for reference. Animals still need your help.