Slashing horses
Tucson, AZ (US)Incident Date: Saturday, Jul 5, 2003
County: Pima
Disposition: Open
Suspect(s) Unknown - We need your help!
At first, the wounded horses at the Tanque Verde Guest Ranch seemed as if they'd suffered honest injuries. Employees thought the animals were rubbing up against something sharp, causing the jagged gashes to their throats.
But when they found more injured horses Friday morning and afternoon, the 12th and 13th in five weeks, they called authorities, fearing the 3- to 4-inch cuts would need stitches. Now, investigators suspect the injuries resulted from animal cruelty and they're trying to figure out who would want to hurt the horses, all of which have recovered.
"There are no suspects, leads or evidence at this time," said Pima County sheriff's Detective John Mawhinney, a member of the Animal Cruelty Taskforce of Southern Arizona. "There's just no good evidence so far."
But he called the incidents "disturbing."
"If it is determined to be human-caused, it could be very frightful because the subject is attempting to kill horses by stabbing them or cutting their throats," he said. "It is a well-known fact that subjects who kill animals can, later on in life, go on to injure or hurt humans. We're looking at a possible predator here."
Authorities say the first incident occurred during the first week of July.
The rest soon followed, never more than two at a time, but always overnight, at random intervals, Mawhinney said. All but one of the incidents took place in a lower corral at the ranch, 14301 E. Speedway, next to Saguaro National Park and Coronado National Forest.
The other incident was in a corral nearer the ranch, but not the main corral, he said.
Each time, a different horse suffered a cut to its throat, Mawhinney said. The wounds varied from an inch to 4 inches long, up to an inch deep, and appeared to be half cut, half tear, meaning the horse could have lurched away from whoever was cutting it or that a jagged cutting device was used, he said.
The horses all could have been seriously injured - or killed - if the injuries were just slightly closer to their jugular veins, he said.
"It could have been serious in nature on all these horses," Mawhinney said.
Authorities were called to the 640-acre, 74-room ranch at 9:11 a.m. Friday, after wranglers brought the horses to the corral near the ranch and discovered an injury to one horse, Mawhinney said.
"From what they said, this appears to be the worst of the injuries," he said.
Ranch owner Bob Cote was on vacation and could not be reached. A manager refused to comment.
Ranch employees called authorities again Friday afternoon when they found another one of the 100 or so horses they keep also had a neck wound. Mawhinney said that injury occurred overnight as well and appeared to be worse than the wound found Friday morning.
Mawhinney said he planned to investigate the corrals again Monday morning with other officials to ensure the injuries weren't caused by something there that had been overlooked. But he said the possibility was remote.
"Horses do their own thing," he said. "Having 12 of them do the same thing in a similar manner is highly unlikely."
Mawhinney asked anyone with information on the horse attacks to call 911 or 88-CRIME, the anonymous tip line of the Pima County Attorney's Office. References |
