MUNSTER – A Munster man has been taken into custody on an active warrant after an Indiana Conservation Officer investigation revealed a video of him torturing an animal.
Nikola Kutansky, 35, of Munster was arrested Monday afternoon with the assistance of the Gary Police Department on a felony warrant for knowingly torturing or mutilating a vertebrate animal, a Level 6 felony.
Kutansky was arrested after he allegedly filmed himself torturing and killing a lamb and then posted the footage to Facebook.
Kutansky in the video allegedly shoots the lamb several times with a BB gun and then uses a knife to slit the injured animal’s throat while it is still alive. He can also reportedly be heard saying “redrum” during the video, which is “murder” spelled backward.
Kutansky also reportedly filmed and posted videos of himself using the BB gun to shoot two chickens while his young child watched.
Kutansky allegedly stole the animals in the video from Buckley Homestead Park in Lowell.
The lamb and chickens were all reportedly stolen from Buckley Homestead County Park in 2018. In one of the videos, Kutansky allegedly admits that he stole the animals and brought them to his home, which is located in the 7900 block of Linden Avenue.
Conservation Officers learned about the alleged videos during a multi-year investigation into a series of break-ins at the Willow Slough Fish and Wildlife Area office in Newton County. An investigator with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) reportedly came across the videos, which were allegedly posted to Kutansky’s personal Facebook account.
Kutansky’s allegedly broke into the Willow Slough Fish and Wildlife Area office and stole a taxidermy deer mount, firearm ammunition, and DNR signs.
The Gary Police Department assisted by locating Kutansky on a traffic stop and arrested him without incident.
