By Nicole Acevedo of NBC News
The owners of the horse, named Whip, said they found him slaughtered in a pasture next door to their home
A family in Florida found their horse slaughtered in what authorities called a “horrific crime.”
Officers were called at around 8 a.m. Friday morning to a pasture in the Naples area after the horse’s remains were found.
“Someone entered the pasture sometime between midnight and 5 a.m. and led the horse to a neighboring pasture where they butchered the animal,” the Collier County Sheriff’s Office said, saying that they believe that “the suspect or suspects were after the horse’s meat.“
Owners of the horse, named Whip, said they bought it when it was 4-years old and have had the animal for eight years. The owners live next door to the empty lot where Whip’s remains were found, NBC affiliate WBBH in Fort Myers reported.
“My husband went out this morning to feed the horses and he noticed one of them was gone,” Jamie Doria, one of the horse’s owners, told WBBH. “They went looking for them in the woods, and he had been slaughtered and all his meat and his skin was gone.”
The sheriff’s office is investigating the horse’s death along with investigators from other counties where similar crimes have happened. The Florida Agricultural Crimes Intelligence Unit is also helping with the investigation, Sheriff Kevin Rambosk said in a statement.
Rambosk added that Collier County deputies have increased their presence in areas where residents have horses.
Whip’s owners told WBBH they are offering a $12,600 reward for anyone with information that can help catch whoever killed the horse.
“He’s a part of our family, he’s my partner,” Doria said. “He’s not just a horse, he’s not just an animal, he’s a family member. He was my barrel racing horse. He was fun to ride and he just had a really good personality.”
Categories: Horse News, Horse Slaughter
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
I would say its time to ramp up the penalties for anyone who even attempts to steal a horse – much less to slaughter one. Make it much more of a crime to do this. Its beyond me how anybody could do this in the first place. It appears anyone with a horse or horses – especially in Florida – needs to be extremely watchful over their animals. It cannot be left up to law enforcement alone.
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Super hot, multi strand electric fences should be part of the answer, they aren’t expensive to build or run.
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Also alarm systems & cameras near the barn & pasture areas? To protect the horses? It’s sad to think that we have to do this nowadays but very necessary to protect our precious horses! Omygosh we’ve done that 4 porch pirates, & now it has to be done for innocent horses on private property. Can’t even imagine how these people feel to experience such a horrific, brutal situation. Our hearts go out to them.
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Also alarm systems & cameras near the barn & pasture areas? To protect the horses? It’s sad to think that we have to do this nowadays but very necessary to protect our precious horses! Omygosh we’ve done that 4 porch pirates, & now it has to be done for innocent horses on private property. Can’t even imagine how these people feel to experience such a horrific, brutal situation. Our hearts go out to them.
🐴❤🐴
I think that I would sleep in my barn to protect my horses.. But that is not realistic 4 so many innocent people here. Impossible to do! Just expressing my anger & frustration here.. Many tears for our beloved horses everywhere!!
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This makes me sick, I have read other articles like this for the horse meat. I would be broken as you are, it is beyond a crime, it is sick people who would do this and you know it is more than one person involved, it would be too difficult for one person. please let everyone know and who it is when you find them. They need the punishment and wrath of God. I am so sorry for you and your family, our animals are our family and love them as such. Prayers for you.
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I spoke with my cousin in FL last nite. She said horse owners are paranoid. There seems to be a lot of strangers who ride around during the day to look for horses in pastures, especially with run-in sheds. They are casing the horse farms to observe the situations & come back to kill innocent ones later at night. If I were there, I would ride around during the day& take photos to capture their license plates. Law enforcement agencies are doing their best.. UGH!?
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