A Langdon, N.D., man is accused of underfeeding a dog to the point of death.
Derek Skjerva is set to make his first appearance on a misdemeanor charge of animal cruelty in state District Court on Tuesday.
The owners of the building where Skjerva lived found the dog dead in a kennel inside Skjerva's apartment.
"I went to the apartment and could immediately smell something that was deteriorating," Chief Deputy Greg Fetsch wrote in his report. "It was obvious that the dog had been starved to death."
The report says there was a bowl of dog food in the kennel but no water.
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"We took the dog out of the kennel and it was skin and bones," the report states. "The eyes were sunk into the head and it looked like it had been trapped in the kennel for some time."
The report says the dog was found lying in its own feces.
Fetsch's report, dated May 29, says Skjerva told him the dog died May 27.
According to the report, Skjerva told Fetsch, "he would feed it every couple of days because it would cost thousands of dollars to feed it all the time."
"He said he could not stand having the dog and that he only had it because of his old girlfriend."
Attempts to reach Skjerva at a number listed for him in Fetsch's report were not successful.
