Warning: This story contains graphic photos.

Neal Rodgers of Vinemont, Alabama had two beagles and after hunting the previous weekend he allowed them to run loose in a rural part of Vinemont located on County Road 1428.

Sunday morning, when he went to feed his dogs, an alarming sight greeted him. His three year old beagle, Anne, showed up bleeding.

Initially he thought she may have been hit by a car but it only took a moment to realize the truth, someone had actually skinned her!

“I can’t imagine who would do this. I have had bird dogs for years and never had anything like this happen,” Neal said describing the skinning as the way a hunter would skin a deer.

Anne had her coat removed from the nape of the neck to the base of the tail and down to the nipple line, all of which was done while she was alive.

“It is inhumane and I just can’t imagine anyone doing that to a living creature. I am just flabbergasted. I think whoever did this should be tied up and skinned,” said Janet Rodgers, Neal’s wife.

Their second beagle, Buttercup, was also injured but thankfully escaped with just some minor lacerations around the neck and shoulders.

The Rodgers took both of their dogs to Bruce Lee’s veterinary clinic. Lee said in his more then 21 years as a vet, he’s never seen anything more gruesome.

“By far this is the most extreme case [of animal cruelty] I have ever seen,” Lee said. “I was not prepared for what I had to see. This was a totally awful sight.”

Due to the lack of skin available for grafts, Anne had to be euthanized.

“How can this be OK?” Lee said. “The only reason someone would do this is out of extreme torture. The amount of torture involved is incomprehensible. It is a brutal and hideous crime, and I hope I never have to see anything like it again.”

Janet Rodgers asked anyone with information to call the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office at 734-0342.

Sheriff Tyler Roden said the Sheriff’s Office is investigating the case and said more details will be made available when the investigation concludes. Roden said the act is a Class C Felony charge and carries a fine up to $5,000 and up to 10 years in prison.

To say that this story appalls me does not even begin to describe how I feel. Someone who could do something like this to an innocent and defenseless animal is a serious danger!!