<p>Animal rights groups are demanding the prosecution and expulsion of a University of Georgia student who allegedly killed a raccoon that was then skinned, eaten and burned by members of his fraternity.</p><p>Patrick Rives, animal control superintendent for Athens-Clarke County, said Tuesday that he would submit an arrest warrant application this week to a magistrate judge. If the judge approves the application and if student Erik Robert Zimmerman were convicted of animal cruelty, Zimmerman could face up to 12 months in jail and a maximum fine of $1,000.</p><p>Late on the night of Dec. 12, Zimmerman saw the raccoon near a Dumpster and hit it with a traffic cone, said Rives. When it did not run away, Zimmerman shot it with a pellet gun, Rives said. Others skinned it and ate some of it before burning it.</p><p>Erratic behavior is a symptom of rabies in an animal.</p><p>The incident at the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house is being condemned by animal rights groups as intolerable animal cruelty.</p><p>Shawn Collinsworth, executive director of the national fraternity, said he is contemplating expelling those involved.</p><p>In the scheme of things, its not out of the question for us to expel or suspend these students from our organization, he said.</p><p>The Interfraternity Council, a governing body for fraternities at the University, will take no action, said IFC President Latham Saddler.</p><p>Because it was not a fraternity endorsed event, we decided it was best for their executive council to take care of it internally, Saddler said. If we feel theyre not doing enough, well step in.</p><p>Meanwhile, Anne Chynoweth, counsel to investigative services at the Humane Society of America, has demanded the expulsion the fraternity and the students involved from the university.</p><p>People who care about animals need to know UGA is taking this seriously, she said. If UGA fails to hold the students accountable, they can do it again.</p><p>At least one fraternity member was treated for possible rabies exposure for handling the raccoons head. The animal could not be tested for rabies because its carcass eventually was burned in a pile of trash and leaves in the frat house parking lot.</p><p>Rives said Zimmerman is the only fraternity member who could be charged because he is the one who actually killed the animal.</p>
