Source: KTVZ.com
Brings recent total to six — same as horses killed in 2011 case
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Prineville OR – Federal and Crook County officials working to solve the fatal shooting of three wild horses returned to an area about 30 miles east of Prineville to continue their investigation Friday and found three more shot and killed, bringing the total to six.
Coincidentally, that’s the number of wild horses found shot and killed in the spring of 2011, a case still unsolved despite a $4,000 reward offered by the Central Oregon Wild Horse Coalition.
Sheriff’s deputies assisted Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management officials Friday, returning to the area off Forest Service Road 22 near the 500 spur north of Big Summit Prairie to continue their investigation.
The three additional horses were found within a quarter-mile of the three found last weekend by hunters in the area, said sheriff’s Sgt. Travis Jurgens.
Anyone with information in the case was asked to contact Forest Service law enforcement at (541) 383-5798 or the Crook County Sheriff’s Office at (541) 447-6398.
“We walked over there a little closer, and there was a older mare that had been shot, that was obviously dead,” Powell Butte hunter Ron Shelton, who found the horses while hunting with his daughter, recalled Wednesday.
Shelton told NewsChannel 21 he found a dead mare, shot through the neck, and a younger horse was standing next to her with a gunshot wound through the shoulder.
They ended up finding three shot horses, two adults and an adolescent, sheriff’s Sgt. James Savage said, adding that “it appears that they had been shot several days prior.”
“You know, it was elk season — (but) there’s absolutely no, no way that I could see anybody confusing these with a cow elk, because they were black,” Shelton said.
Capt. Dan Smith, who oversees the area’s Forest Service law enforcement officers. said the officer who responded on the case said he found one of the three wounded horses “barely alive with mortal injuries, and he had to put it down.”
Shelton said they called the sheriff’s office and later learned the case had been turned over to Forest Service law enforcement.
“One is too many,” said Gayle Hunt, president and founder of the Central Oregon Wild Horse Coalition. “You always wonder about the senseless nature behind it. What would make a person to do this?”
Smith said they were unsure of the gender of the horses, due to the decomposition by the time they were located Sunday evening.
The horse-shooting case has tragic echoes of one in the spring of 2011, when six wild horses were found fatally shot in the Ochocos. First located were two stallions and a mare; the latter apparently had been pregnant and had a foal about a year old with her at the time, nudging her and trying to get her back on her feet when the deputy arrived, the sheriff’s office said.
The Central Oregon Wild Horse Coalition initially offered a $1,000 reward that eventually grew to $4,000 in hopes of solving that case, but no arrests have been made.
“We worked it and worked it,” said Crook County Sheriff Jim Hensley. “It’s still an active, unresolved case at this time.”
Hunt said her organization is offering a reward that now stands at $1,100 in the latest case as well, to assist authorities in efforts to find the culprits.
Hensley said they will be assisting the Forest Service in the latest case, and are investigating to determine whether the recent horse shootings may be connected to the unsolved ones from 2011.
While Forest Service law enforcement are working on the case despite the partial government shutdown, Hensley said a federally funded sheriff’s deputy who worked in the forest had his position eliminated since 2011 when that funding stopped. Federal officials restricted that money use to search and rescue efforts, he said.
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Categories: Horse News, Horse Slaughter, Wild Horses/Mustangs
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
Prineville is a very small community; I’ve been there many times. Redneck “hunters” like to brag about the carnage they cause. It’s a “macho” thing. My guess is that some people there already know, or suspect, who is doing this.
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Where is Sappington these days?
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I’ll gladly provide the rope(s)
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I think it’s an inside job with both the NFS and BLM behind it. If it was the inbred rednecks in the area they would be bragging! This is why they can never find the culprit! THEY ARE the culprit! Just sayin
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how right you are…the law is not a protector–it is an enabler
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Most likely FS carrying out eradication plan.
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And I will gladly provide the tree…
Anyone who has ever glanced at some of the hunting blogs will tell you that for SOME hunters there is only one thing that can satisfy their lust to kill and that is to “BLOW IT AWAY” … no matter what kind of animal it is.
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I’m for outlawing hunting in this area. Its a National Forest….there’s all kinds of wildlife which should be protected.
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I agree Sue, No hunting in a National Forest…great idea.
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As horrific as this is, if I were one of those wild horses I would prefer to be shot rather than corralled for months, separated from my heard mates, loaded on a truck and transported for hours without food and water to a horrific death at a slaughter facility.
There is only ONE place these horses belong- running wild and free on the range. Prosecute ALL who deny them their rightful destiny- those who shoot them and those who break the law by helicopter roundups, holding facilities, and sale to slaughter.
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Millions of dollars are wasted daily so why not put a few thousand to good use and set a REWARD for capture and prosecution of the people doing it. Thats the best way to stop.it. Put a price on the head of the murdering party and they will be tossed out the door as fast as the cash can be rewarded.
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This is an appropriate time to.bring up another issue. Underground horse abuse that has happened for decades. These people go to wherever someone owns a horse, have you ever wondered how a gate broke, or why your horses personality or riding habits suddenly changed. Well, we have recordings on over 20 farms, private and boarding where undercover we were able to document this has been happening for years. Different people come out to your property whenthey are sure not to be caught. They RIde, believe to train….these people usually lack riding and training skills, they damage property,.fencing, tear up equipment, abuse horses,.pets in the barns, and damage fencing all intentionally. This underground is across the United States, people who do damage and then walk away. They are reasonably responsible for why some horses are deemed crazy and sold to slaughter. These people damage, steal, and then walk away to watch, often they live nearby. One man even trims horses very badly, twitches horses, and even has been known to float teeth all in the dark, so the work is bad. They ride horses to injury, even feed them whi h leads to colic founder. One man was taped dumping out water barrels, stealing horse feed at last feeding at a stable while horses were attempting to eat, then stole brushes, pitchforks, and saddle pads. Why? So he could turn the place in for Abuse. True. So we need to make sure we take horse protection to higher plain, these people exist and you have to prove it in order to law involved. So please monitor your horses. We walk fence every night, long walk, we talk to only people who we trust about property. We monitor stalls visually. Its critically important we expose the otherhalf of the dark side of horse industry.
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Haven’t read the article yet but are officials REALLY looking for these people? or are they just saying there investigating…Big deal they say there saying investigating. Actions speak louder than words…
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Did the one year old colt that was shot in the shoulder have medical help? Please respond. Elvira
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Wild horses need to be protected ..not slaughtered !! Hunters should be prosecuted and the crime should be a felony with increased punishment ..Punishment must fit the crime !! The wild horses soon will be gone..disgraceful !!
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Can I ask what is probably a naive question?? I see everywhere there are horrible things being done by Forest Service personnel to horses and even worse things being done to horses by BLM personnel. I have no use for careless hunters (I do not hunt, never have, never will, do not own or know how to shoot a gun, never have never will). But really – really?? – given the documented track record of USFS and BLM when it comes to wild horses or indeed ANY horses, why isn’t some thought being given to whether this is happening within an agency and not by some outside forces? Like I say probably naive. But the BLM especially is not exactly without guilt in the wild horse situation – as you all know.
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I did go to the article & comment. Most of the comments are against the horses – would probably be good if there were some more pro-horse comments on there.
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no Comment. what I’m Thinking Is Not FIt For Human Eyes. Shared.
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Sharon Putman ; I think every one should remember what we owe to the horses, the work horse ,the race horse even the pleasure of riding horses , just think about it if we one day had to walk everywhere we went, then you would give your eyeteeth for a horse then sheesh
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Ahhhh…the ugliness that is self appointed righteousness and anarchism.
Let us see..do all of our KNOWN wild equine haters have alibis? Do USDA and DOI have alibis?…or a decent level of interest in these deaths? while they murder wild burros and equines at will DAILY???????
At a minimum, do the shooters have the proper permits for hunting????
Feign care, liars of protection.
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This is up there with the “Boy Scouts” that were protecting humans from danger. when they defaced the rock monument…with one difference, wild equines are living creatures, but the “freaking rock” gets more news!!!!!
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