MENOMINEE COUNTY -- Nicholas Michael Leisner and Peter John Sauve, both 17 year olds of Escanaba, are each facing three counts of torturing or killing an animal.
The teens were arrested after they allegedly tortured three red angus cattle on the farm of Gary Niarhos, in Wilson. The cattle were herded into a cattle chute and impaled with a steel bar and beaten with a steel rod and a shovel.
Two pregnant heifers were euthanized. The two-year-old bull suffered a broken jaw and may have to be put down as well.
"Understand that doing this to animals is a crime and it will not be tolerated, and also to ask people to keep an eye out for animals that are being abused and to report it to law enforcement," said Sheriff Kenny Marks.
The motive for the torture remains under investigation.
Leisner and Sauve will have their preliminary examination in Menominee County Circuit Court on July 27.
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