ohmidog!

“It was bad people who killed them,” 5-year-old Ethan Stalcup said after the bodies of his family’s two dogs were found, apparently killed with an axe.

“I don’t understand why anybody would do this,”  his mother, Rose Stalcup, said in an interview. “It really hurts to know that we live in a world where people can be this cruel.”

Her husband, J.P. Stalcup, wondered what the killers might do next: “What happens if, you know, they do that a couple more times and all of the sudden they’re not happy with – it’s not giving them as much jollies as it was the first couple times …”

That was before Japheth (J.P.) Daniel Stalcup admitted to police that it was he who killed his dogs — because, he said, he couldn’t afford to take care of them.

Now, as Stalcup awaits trial on charges of aggravated animal abuse, KATU – the station that aired the earlier interviews with the family — reports Stalcup has another dog, despite a judge’s order prohibiting it.

One of the conditions Stalcup agreed to in order to be free from jail until the trial was ”no possession or living with any animals.”

Stalcup, of Eagle Creek, Oregon,  initially reported his dogs — Duke, a black Lab, and Buddy, a Lab-blue heeler mix — missing last November. Two days later he reported to police that he had found their bodies, about 100 yards from the house. Stalcup told investigators the dogs appeared to have been hit with an axe several times. One of the dogs was tossed from a cliff, deputies said.

As the police investigation progressed, Stalcup eventually admitted to killing the dogs. His trial date is March 25.

Acting on a tip from a viewer, KATU visited his home on Monday, confirming the family had a new puppy.

J.P. Stalcup told a reporter that his lawyer had cleared it with a judge for him to have pets at home, but prosecutors were unaware of any such permission being granted.

(Photo: The Stalcup’s new puppy (at top) and one of their previous dogs, Duke / KATU)