By Ellen Wright, NetPosse.com, January, 2012 ©

            Since the recession hit, people have been looking for all kinds of ways to stretch the budget, and, frankly, some have been rather ingenious. Some, however, are just outright mean and cruel. Now do not misunderstand us-we are in favor of feeding a family. We might even be in favor of hunting-IF you use all of what you take down, it is a clean kill, and the carcass is properly cleaned and disposed of. In the cases that are happening in the Miami, FL area since the middle of 2009, several other places, and now being reported in Great Britain-no, sorry, we not only do not support it-we’re enraged. Here’s why:

            Residents of South Florida have been living with this terror for quite a while now. Horse meat sells on the black market for upwards of $20/pound in some places. It can be a quite lucrative business. It is illegal to sell in the U. S., but that has not stopped the trade. Horse owners will find their animals off in a corner, sometimes tied to a tree, and butchered. Sometimes the way they find them is by the buzzard circling overhead.[i]

            The kills are done at night. Usually, the horses are in pastures, but being in a stall is no protection either. Horses have been found brutalized there-including race horses.

            No area of the country is safe from this-in El Paso County, CO, two horses were found with eyes, tongues, and genitalia removed as well as flesh.[ii] What makes this incident extremely bizarre is the lack of forensic evidence-lack of blood, footprints, or anything else for police to use.

            This is not just something that is happening in the United States-it is happening-that we are aware of-in Great Britain, and possibly other places as well. In Carmarthenshire, Wales, UK, Barney was found by his owner, Linda Vickerage, on January 5, when she went to feed and check on him. It was dark, so she went to get a light and that’s when she saw all the blood and slashing. By daylight the next day, it was even worse. Whoever had done the attack had removed the eyes, one ear, and the internal organs as well as slashing the horse. “….(I)t was just horrific,” stated Ms. Vickerage. The local authorities are still conducting inquiries into the incident.[iii]

            In the Devon and Cornwall area of the UK, another horse, this one a young 2 year old entire colt, was found also butchered most savagely. Owner Dawn Jewell is reported to be “devastated and angry” at what happened to her beloved colt. The mare and foal in the same pasture were unharmed, but said to be ‘snorting and petrified’. The attack is thought to have happened sometime between Sunday, January 15, 6:00 GMT and Monday, January 16 at noon GMT. Local constabulary are looking into the case as well as the RSPCA to see if the mutilation occurred pre- or post-mortem.