Man charged for allegedly stealing, hanging rabbit

The Columbia man accused of stealing and hanging a rabbit was charged Monday with felony stealing an animal and felony animal abuse.

Columbia Police said they arrested Nicholas Jones in late April and he was taken to a hospital.

According to court documents, Jones took the rabbit from the Columbia Humane Society after filling out the necessary adoption paperwork, but when he was left unattended with the rabbit, he left with the animal before the adoption was approved.

An employee at the Humane Society told officers she believed Jones had a mental disability at first, and assumed it was a misunderstanding.

Shortly after, A Columbia Police officer said Jones’ father confirmed that he has a disability, and instructed officers to talk to Jones and retrieve the rabbit, or he would do so when he returned to town.

Neighbors called police later that night when they saw Jones had stabbed the rabbit and hung it from the deck outside his apartment.

Other witnesses said they saw Jones stabbing the rabbit repeatedly with scissors and swinging it over his head “like a yo-yo,” according to court documents.

Witnesses told police they chased Jones through the parking lot at Tiger Village to get him to stop hurting the rabbit. He then threw it into a wooded area.

Jones was found with the scissors when officers arrived.

Neighbors told ABC 17 News they were nervous he was back at the apartment complex.

And the Humane Society said they are still shaken from the incident.

Assistant director Michelle Casey said that horrific incident made them go back and review their policies, but said all staff followed protocol correctly.

“Just thinking about it, I mean, it’s terribly sad, it’s very upsetting,” Casey said. “It’s very personal for a lot of our employees and our entire organization, so it definitely hurts.”

ABC 17 News also reached out to Tiger Village to find out if Jones will be allowed to stay, but it was after business hours and they haven’t returned our call.