A 62-year-old New York man is facing criminal charges after he allegedly spray-painted some squirrels at his Putnam County home, the SPCA announced Monday.
The county's probation department alerted animal welfare authorities to the bizarre crime after Mark Kuhn, a Patterson resident, allegedly admitted to trapping squirrels in metal cages and then coloring them "Apple Red" using a Rust-Oleum Paint + Primer spray can. Kuhn then released the animals somewhere else in town, according to the Putnam County SPCA.
Detectives and Department of Environmental Conservation police interviewed Kuhn on Saturday, Jan. 13, and he was later charged with three counts of poisoning or attempting to poison animals, which is a misdemeanor in the state of New York, as well as other violations under environmental conservation laws.
Authorities found the paint and two traps at Kuhn's property, both appeared to be covered in the red paint.
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It's unclear why Kuhn allegedly trapped the squirrels and spray-painted them before releasing them. He is on probation for an unrelated crime and no other information was immediately available.
