'Act of Evil': 15 Wild Horses Fatally Shot in Rural Kentucky

Photo: Getty

The horses lived in a rehabilitated strip mine area in Floyd County,NPR reports. About 30 horses have lived in two main herds on the land for several years.

But earlier this month, several horses were found shot to death.

“It looked like a battlefield for just horses — we counted 15 that we found dead,” he continued. “All 15 appeared to us to have been shot.”

At least two of the horses had been pregnant when they were shot. Some of the horses were less than a year old.

Tonya Conn, president of the local group Dumas Rescue, told the station that the horses had been “hunted.”

“Seeing them gunned down is … it’s beyond horrific,” she told the station. “These horses were scattered in various, various places, distances from each other so they had been shot, and they’d scattered then hunted and shot down.”

Local authorities are offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest of the person responsible for the shootings. The reward amount started at $500, but animal lovers from around the country have contributed to the fund,WYMT reports.

“I’ve done rescue for a long time. I’ve seen some pretty bad things,” Goble told NPR. “This was different. This was a very large act of evil, for lack of a better term. I mean, there’s no other way that I can describe it. Somebody went out of their way to go up there and kill these horses, and not even quickly, for no reason. No reason whatsoever.”

Anyone with information about the shootings is asked to contact the Floyd County Sheriff’s Office at 606-886-6171.

source: people.com