ONTONAGON, MI (AP)-- An Ontonagon County farmer has been charged with animal cruelty involving donkeys provided by state officials to protect his cattle from wolves.
John Koski is scheduled for a pretrial hearing December 17 in Ontonagon on a single misdemeanor count. The 68-year-old Bessemer resident could get up to one year in jail and a $2,000 fine if convicted.
MLive.com reported in November that Koski's farm accounted for more cattle killed and injured by wolves than all others combined during the period that state officials reviewed before setting boundaries for this fall's wolf hunt.
The website says Koski is accused of neglecting two state-supplied donkeys, which died. A third was removed because of ill health.