DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A man who beat to death and beheaded a rabbit at an animal shelter in Des Moines has been given a two-year sentence.

Polk County court records say Bobby Carothers, 64, of Carroll, pleaded guilty last month to a charge of animal torture and requested immediate sentencing.

Staffers at the Animal Rescue League shelter identified Carothers as being the last visitor in the building on Dec. 15. He was asked to leave. The court records say that as Carothers left he said to one of the staffers, “I am having rabbit stew tonight.”

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A short time later employees found the dead rabbit, Petunia.

A deputy arrested Carothers about three hours later after a fire alarm was pulled at a Des Moines trucking company, the court records say. He talked freely about killing a rabbit earlier in the evening. He told the deputy he’d used a stick to kill it and then cut off its head, the records say.

Asked why he did so, Carothers told the deputy he was hungry, the records say.