Although many hundreds of domestic animals are violently killed in the country each year, the manner and number of the local deaths distinguish them in a gruesome manner.

“This is the first time I’ve ever heard of a string of skinning and mutilating domestic animals,” said Dale Bartlett, deputy manager for animal cruelty issues at the Humane Society of the United States.

Two puppies and a female dog were found in an Eaton Township creek Nov. 12. Two more were found 30 miles away by a remote roadside in Fell Township on Nov. 16.

While local investigators can not definitively link the two sets of killings, officials have called them “more than a coincidence” because of common threads: All of the dogs appear to be the same, long-nosed breed, most likely Shetland sheepdogs. All of them died of hemorrhaging and blood loss before being skinned and discarded in remote but easily visible places. All were well cared for, with good diets and healthy muscles.

The idea of one being a copycat crime is also unlikely.

“People who do cruelty to animals are not usually copycat killers,” Humane Society of Lackawanna County officer Tina Walter said.

The fact all the dogs were skinned has led local investigators to worry the dogs’ hides are being harvested. Walter said she has received phone calls about people collecting dog skins in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

“I wouldn’t say it was the only reason it was done,” she said. “But it has something to do with it.”

llegere@timesshamrock.com