MAN DRAGS DONKEY DOWN ASPHALT ROAD BEHIND HIS ATV

(09/02/2004)
A Branchland man faces an animal cruelty charge for allegedly dragging a donkey behind his ATV for nearly a half a mile.

Witnesses said the animal was so severely injured it had to be euthanized.

Cabell County officials are looking for 77-year-old Hurston Gue to serve him with an arrest warrant.

Gue told a sheriff's deputy that he was leading the animal and it fell. He said he took the animal home and treated its wounds before releasing it into his pasture

Witnesses disputed his account, saying the animal was dragged on its haunches down an asphalt road.

Police measured a trail of blood for nearly a half-mile.