MAYSVILLE — A Newport man is accused of shooting another man's hunting dog and smashing the dog's tracking device.

Bobby Joe Cuthrell, 46, of New Port Circle in Newport has been charged by the Jones County Sheriff’s Department with felony cruelty to animals and misdemeanor injury to personal property, while N.C. Wildlife has added charges of removing and destroying an electronic collar and criminally negligent hunting. He received a $10,000 unsecured bond and has a first appearance scheduled for Friday.

Jones County Sheriff Danny Heath confirmed in a Facebook post Tuesday that Cuthrell is accused of shooting a deer hound belonging to Glenn Meadows as well as removing and destroying the dog's tracking device.

Glenn Meadows, a Jones County resident living near Maysville, said his deerhound, Pinky, was just over a year old. He said he and his son had gone hunting on a property not far from his own last Saturday. He had two dogs with him, Pinky and an older dog. The dogs sometimes get out of sight, but he is able to keep track of them with GPS devices that, he said, cost $300 each.

Those GPS devices send out a signal every two-and-a-half seconds, giving a dog’s location to within six feet. The dogs had wandered off and Pinky’s device showed she had laid down, he said. “She was tired. I thought it was no big deal.”

The older dog’s device went dead, which was no surprise, since Meadows knew it had not been charged. But then Pinky’s went dead as well. “I said, ‘What in the world? It shouldn’t be dying’,” he said. He tried calling the dogs but got no response.

He wasn’t too worried. “Normally, they come back,” he said. “They always do. They always have. I’ve had hunting dogs for 20 years.”

When they didn't come home, Meadows returned to hunt for the dogs on Saturday night with no luck. He went hunting for them again on Monday and saw one of his dogs trotting down the road. To Meadows’ surprise, the dog was wearing his own blue-collar, his tracking device, and Pinky’s pink collar. “Someone had to take that collar off that dog physically and set it on the other dog,” he said. “My first reaction was, someone tried to catch her and the dog freaked out and slipped the collar. But then I figured, why didn’t they call me?” since his phone number was printed on the collars.

He tracked Pinky’s last GPS signal. There was nothing – no dog, no device – within six feet of the spot from which the device last broadcast. But, 15 yards away, he found it smashed to pieces and thrown in a ditch. There was no sign of Pinky.

Meadows posted pictures of his dog on social media, asking for help in locating her, and notified the Jones County Sheriff’s Department. Together they searched the area again, finding more pieces of the GPS.

Meadows was at work about 5 p.m. Tuesday when Jones County Sheriff Danny Heath called him with the bad news: his dog had been found, dead from a bullet wound.

He said he is thankful for all the work Heath and his department, as well as N.C. Wildlife, put into solving the case.

Meadows said he was very fond of Pinky – “You got house dogs, you got your yard dogs, and then you got your hounds,” he said. “It’s a little bit different. You don’t let nothing bad happen to them.” Meadows said he invests a lot of money in feeding, caring for and protecting his dogs. “I do the most I can for them. Every true houndsman will do that.

“That dog was so nice and gentle. She never jumped on anybody. If anything, she was a little bit skittish around people. There was no reason for (anyone) to shoot my dog."

“None. Zero.”