Police: Man Killed Emotional Support Ferrets

JANUARY 24--A Minnesota man charged with killing his roommate’s emotional support ferrets told police that he shot the caged animals with a BB gun because they “smell like shit” and claimed that one of the ferrets was laughing at him, according to a court complaint.

Police responded Tuesday to a 911 call placed by Maurice Guski, 57, who reported that his four pet ferrets were missing. Upon arriving at the Duluth apartment, officers noted finding “blood drops on the stairs and walls of the entryway.”

Guski told police that he shared the residence with Levi Arneberg, 27, who had threatened to harm one of the ferrets the prior evening. Guski said Arneberg (seen at right) held a kitchen knife in his hand and said, “It would be bad if one of them were hurt. Get the fuck out!”

The roommates had argued because Arneberg claimed Guski had “too much of his personal property in their shared space,” the complaint states.

Duluth Police Department officers found the dead ferrets in an alley adjacent to the apartment building. A witness reported seeing Arneberg walking through the alley and saying that “a ferret smiled at him, so he shot it ten times.”

When cops located Arneberg, he reportedly declared, “Dude, I killed the ferrets, give me a break.” Arneberg, cops reported, said he used a BB gun to kill the animals “cause they smell like shit.” Referring to one of the ferrets, Arneberg said that, “the big one was hard to kill” and “I swear the thing was laughing and breathing, laughing and breathing and I just kept shooting it in the fucking head.”

Arneberg was arrested on four misdemeanor animal cruelty counts, each of which carries a maximum penalty of a year behind bars. He is being held in the St. Louis County jail in lieu of $20,000 bail, which represents “$5000 for each deceased ferret,” according to a court filing by prosecutors.

Two of the late ferrets are seen above in a photo Guski posted last month to his Facebook page. (3 pages)