Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe LOWELL, Mass., Oct. 17 (UPI) -- A Massachusetts man has been charged with catching and killing a squirrel and then roasting it with a blowtorch in his backyard. Odum Chaloeurn's neighbors in Lowell reported him to the police, the Boston Herald said. He was charged with animal cruelty Wednesday. Advertisement Chaloeurn reportedly argued to police that he was not cruel to the squirrel since it was dead before he began cooking it. He allegedly pursued the squirrel on foot, grabbed it by its tail and then knocked it against a tree to kill it. Squirrels are actually legal game in Massachusetts to licensed hunters. But Lowell is in a district where the squirrel season opens Saturday. There is no word yet on whether Chaloeurn faces a citation for violation of hunting regulations in addition to the cruelty charge.
