PETITION CLOSED
PETITION TARGET: Floyd County, Kentucky Sheriff’s Office
UPDATE (8/14/2023): Thankfully, the Kentucky Humane Society stepped up to care for three of the horses who survived. We’ve since learned that one has since been adopted, while one gave birth to a healthy colt! Unfortunately, despite multiple checks back, we were unable to obtain any information that anyone was connected to this crime or held accountable. Thank you to everyone who signed our petition, and we’ll keep advocating for all animals! — Lady Freethinker Staff
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In an appalling act of cruelty, a shooter gunned down dozens of innocent horses, including newborn foals and pregnant mares, near an abandoned strip mine in Floyd County, Ky.
The shooter mercilessly fired bullets into the animals at their most vulnerable moments, including one horse who was eating and died with grass in his mouth. According to Megan Goble, whose family owns the property the horses were massacred on, two pregnant mares miscarried after they were shot.
“It looked like a battlefield for just horses,” said Floyd County Sherrif John Hunt. “We counted 15 that we found dead. All 15 appeared to us to have been shot.”
Later, 6 more dead horses were discovered, bringing the total to 21 animals slain.
It seems as if the killer deliberately separated and terrified the horses shortly before shooting them.
“I was just sick to my stomach by the thought of what those horses had to go through,” said President and CEO of the Kentucky Humane Society Lori Recmon. “It looks like maybe they had been run and then dispersed and shot. They’re herd animals, so to separate them and then shoot them is probably terrifying for them. Then, after I was sad and sickened, I just got angry.”
Prior to the slaughter, roughly 30 horses routinely wandered the remote Eastern Kentucky area. According to locals, people frequently visited the horses to feed them and watch them frolic in the woods. Through one deplorable act, the shooter decimated that population.
As long as the person responsible for the brutal death these horses walks free, he or she poses a continued threat to horses and all other living beings. Whoever murdered these beautiful creatures must be brought to justice before they hunt and kill anyone else.
Sign this petition encouraging the Floyd County Sheriff’s Office to treat this case with the severity it deserves by using every available resource to identify and arrest the individual(s) behind this gruesome crime.
There is a $15,000 reward for information leading to the capture of the suspected shooter. Investigators urge anyone with information about this case to call the Floyd County Sheriff’s Office at (606) 886-6171.
