Police have charged three University of Georgia fraternity members after a skinned coyote carcass, several raccoon heads and other grisly animal remains were left on the front porch of a rival fraternity house last month.
Brothers Carson Smith, 19, and Jackson Smith, 20, were arrested on misdemeanor charges of criminal trespass and cited for improper disposal of a carcass. Conner Dunahoo, 19, was cited for improper disposal.
Credit: Clarke County Sheriff's Office
Credit: Clarke County Sheriff's Office
The three are accused of driving the animal parts to the Chi Psi fraternity house the night of Feb. 6 and leaving them on the front porch, where they were discovered the next morning.
RELATED: Canine carcass, raccoon heads, dead rats left on UGA fraternity's porch, police say
A skinned canine, which a state game warden later determined to be a coyote, was found along with three skinned raccoon heads, according to police. Two dead rats, several pairs of raccoon feet and a “variety of entrails” were also left on the porch as well as multiple bloody latex gloves.
Athens-Clarke County animal control was called in to collect the carcasses and other materials.
According to a police report obtained Wednesday by AJC.com, the animals were skinned in the parking lot of the Alpha Gamma Rho house days before they were dumped.
A cook working at the Alpha Gamma Rho house saw a group gathered on Feb. 3 “drinking, yelling and shouting as one of the brothers started to skin the pelt from a coyote carcass,” he described to police. Disturbed, the cook told police he went back inside the house.
In the days that followed, he told police that he saw other carcasses and animal pieces around a metal pole in the parking lot, which another fraternity member described as a “skinning rack.” Investigators said an older member of the frat planted the idea for the prank in the younger brothers’ heads, saying “it would be funny” if someone threw the dead animals on the porch of another fraternity house.
Carson Smith, Jackson Smith and Dunahoo admitted to dumping the animal parts when they were interviewed by police, according to the report. Carson Smith reportedly told investigators it was common for fraternities to play pranks on each other.
The Smith brothers were arrested last Wednesday and released on $1,500 bond. According to police, none of the suspects were charged with animal cruelty because the animals were legally harvested for their pelts.
“We are thankful to the local authorities for their diligent work on this issue,” a spokesman for the national Chi Psi fraternity said in a statement. “We are moving forward and have no further comment on the matter.”
In response to the incident, the president of the UGA chapter of Chi Psi said a portion of the proceeds from his fraternity's upcoming philanthropy event will be donated to the Athens Area Humane Society.
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