‘It’s a disgrace’: Animal advocates want stiff sentence for father, daughter accused of burning raccoon alive
SARASOTA, Fla. - Animal advocates rallied for the harshest penalties possible after a raccoon was stabbed and then set on fire in a dumpster in Sarasota. It comes just one day after a father and daughter were arrested and charged with felony animal cruelty.
Impassioned animal advocates hit the streets Saturday in downtown Sarasota to be as they put it a voice for the voiceless. A voice for a raccoon they've nicknamed Rosie.
"That raccoon suffered terribly at the hands of these two people terribly for a long amount of time. And so this is all about justice for Rosie," rally organizer Traci Lipton said.
Lipton organized the demonstration initially to call for charges after a video started circulating on social media of a raccoon being burned alive in a dumpster. Those charges came 24 hours earlier.
The woman in the video 30-year-old Alicia Kincheloe and her father 63-year-old Roddy Kincheloe are now facing felony aggravated animal cruelty charges.
Booking images for Roddy and Alicia Kincheloe
The sheriff's office says on August 11, surveillance video shows Roddy using a pitchfork to stab the raccoon then hours later the sheriff says they poured a flammable liquid on the animal while it was still alive and set it on fire. It happened in the dumpster behind Roddy's business, Hot Rods Automotive and Autobody, located on Sarah Avenue in Sarasota.
"It's a disgrace that today in 2022 with all the awareness that we have that someone would do that," one passerby said.
Animal activists marched in Sarasota on Saturday calling for harsh punishment for the father and daughter accused of stabbing a raccoon and burning it alive.
The story has since grabbed the nation's attention making headlines across the country. Lipton and other demonstrators want to make sure that whatever happens both face the maximum penalty which in Florida is five years behind bars.
"Maybe they see what they look like from the other side and choose to not make those decisions anymore to get help. We just don't want the animals hurt and there is a domino effect. These people made a bad decision in a moment and their lives are pretty much going to be ruined. Business is done, and I want people to think twice before they harm an innocent being and have some compassion for an animal that's just looking for food," Lipton said.
Deputies say a raccoon who has been nicknamed Rosie was stabbed with a pitchfork and burned alive.
Their arraignment is set for October 14.