Two donkeys found with tails cut off
Marion, WI (US)

Incident Date: Thursday, May 1, 2008
County: Waushara

Disposition: Open

Suspect(s) Unknown - We need your help!

Sheriff�s deputies in Waushara County (Wis.) are investigating a case of animal cruelty of a farm in the town of Marion, where the tails were cut off two donkeys.

Sue and John Jazdzewski have raised mammoth donkeys on their Waushara Co. farm for the past 14 years, but their quiet, rural area has recently endured two unthinkable crimes

�My husband was doing chores and he came in and said Thelma�s tail was missing,� Sue Jazdzewski said.

Jazdzewski says about five inches of bone and flesh were cut off their donkey Thlema, which became even more upsetting when it happened again on the farm a week later. John was out doing chores again when he came inside and said their donkey Norton�s tale was gone. After the second incident, the Jazdzewskis grew suspicious.

Sue and John called in a veterinarian who is �100 percent� sure that tail cuttings were not an accident.

�It�s a clean cut -- they didn�t just back into a fence,� veterinarian Gary Batenhorst said. �It�s definitely an act of mutilation.�

Sue and John say the mammoth donkey is such a gentle breed that anyone could come and cut off a tail without commotion.

�I was so sick to my stomach,� Sue Jazdzewski said. �Why would anyone do that to an animal?�

Batenhorst says the donkeys should be okay, but the bony part of the tail won�t grow back. Norton�s cut-off tail was found in the pasture, but Thelma�s was not found.

Waushara Co. is investigating the incident. They believe thieves may have taken the tails to sell the hair for commercial or religious purposes. The crime could bring charges of animal cruelty, theft and trespassing.

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