A hunter is facing criminal charges for killing and skinning two pet German Shepherds he allegedly mistook for wild coyotes in Connecticut.

Accused dog killer Michael Konschak allegedly struck the two canines with a crossbow while he was out hunting last November, according to the arrest warrant application. After the 61-year-old killed the animals, he then allegedly skinned them to keep their pelts.

Konschak, of Putnam County, NY, claimed to authorities he mistook the pups for coyotes when he fired at them, the warrant said.

The two dogs, a female named Lieben and male named Cimo, both 10, were missing for weeks after they escaped from their family’s yard in Ridgefield, Conn. A bear is suspected of tearing part of the fence down.  

The dogs’ family searched for the pets constantly and put up fliers of them around the area. Owner Erin Caviola said the dogs’ heads were removed and are still missing.

In court Wednesday, Konschak said the killings were a “case of mistaken identity,” since he thought the animals were wild, the News-Times reported. His attorney, Brian Romano, argued the incident was “a hunting accident.”

Konschak is facing charges that include tampering with evidence, forgery, interfering with a law enforcement officer and hunting-related violations and was arrested in February.

“Please know that it was never my intent that morning to harm the victims’ pets,” he said in court in front of the dogs’ family and animal rights activists who want animal cruelty charges tacked on.

While prosecutors said Konschak, who is a respiratory therapist and a US Air Force veteran, might’ve thought the dogs were coyotes initially, once they were dead it was clear they were pets since Cimo was neutered and Lieben’s had a hysterectomy scar, Danbury State’s Attorney David Applegate said, according to the newspaper.

A judge denied a special probation program for Konschak during the hearing Wednesday that would have tossed the charges.

The two dogs were remembered by Erin Caviola as “members of our family” that “gave us joy.”

 “I just can’t believe anyone would do this,” Caviola told the News-Times before the hearing. “We can’t get those images out of our head, how someone could look into their faces, and shoot and kill them and then take them and skin them and behead them.”

The investigation is ongoing and more charges could be added.

With Post wires