A woman in Australia has been found guilty of trying to sell human toes in an online black market after dogs regurgitated them. Joanna Kathlyn Kinman, held guilty by a Melbourne court on Monday (March 17), used to work at an animal shelter in Victoria. She had found the toes after two dogs vomited them along with other remains of a human body in February 2024. 

Advertisment

The dogs were given to the shelter after their owner died of natural causes. Later, it was found that the dogs ate the dead body of their owner. 

Also read: ‘Freak incident’: Man gets shot by his dog using his gun. Know what happened

The 48-year-old was not required to speak during her appearance and was supported by her 17-year-old son.

Advertisment

The police prosecutor, Sen. Const. Melissa Sambrooks, said that the woman was not present when the dogs vomited the human remains. But later she searched the entire area to find the human toes so she could sell them in an online black market for $400. 

“She located two human toes and took them home and placed them in a jar containing formaldehyde,” Sambrooks said, The Guardian reported. 

Kinman shared the idea with her daughter over a phone call. Later, some unknown person gave the police information regarding her plan, after which she was detained. She confessed that she had planned to sell the human remains. 

Advertisment

Also read: Japanese man who spent $15,000 to transform into a dog, now dreams of becoming a panda or cat

She showed the police the location of the jar containing the toes. But apart from the toes, other oddities, including an alligator claw, a bird skull, a guinea pig trotter, and her children’s teeth, were also found by the police. 

Police found that Kinman was a member of the “Bone Buddies Australia” Facebook group, commonly used to buy, swap and sell specimens online. They found Kinman was an active contributor in the group and had previously sold “wet specimens” of a stillborn kitten and puppy. 

“I know someone who collects weird things ... I thought, ‘cool it’s a toe’," she told police.

Also read: A dog on the loose in a Missouri zoo caused an elephant to become so anxious that she died

'It’s astounding that...'

The judge in the court said it was “hardly surprising” Kinman – who had studied psychology as well as animal science – lost her job over the “entirely odd behaviour”, The Guardian reported. 

"It’s astounding that she didn’t understand [that] taking two toes that had been vomited up by one or two dogs from a deceased person and sell[ing] them on the internet was the wrong thing to do. I’m still struggling to understand – it’s astonishing, her behaviour," the judge added, the British newspaper reported.

Also read: A dog on the loose in a Missouri zoo caused an elephant to become so anxious that she died

(With inputs from agencies)