Animal 0 Posté(e) le 14 novembre 2009 Ils les auraient confondus avec des chevreuils ! -------------------------------------------------- Owner of slain mare mourns and asks why By BILL SPURR Staff Reporter Sun. Nov 8 - 4:46 AM Carla Mullins fell in love with Baylee the moment she first saw the "strikingly beautiful" pinto mare 2½ years ago. Now Baylee is buried on the same Maitland farm where she was born, the victim of an act of viciousness, or stupidity, or both. RCMP think deer jackers killed the horse sometime Thursday night. The next day, after police had left and after she buried her mare, Ms. Mullins went out to the pasture where five other horses that live on the 16-hectare farm were gathered. The three that belong to her came when they were called, but one of the fillies owned by Mullins’s sister was acting strangely. "I called them to come in and little Jeans came in, and when we went to give her some feed, she couldn’t put her head down. So I put my hand up and rubbed it against her neck, there was a bullet wound right in the top of her neck," Ms. Mullins said Saturday night. "It went right through her." Police admit they’ll need some luck to find whoever used a high-powered, .30-06-calibre rifle to shoot the horses. They hope to get a tip from the public. "If they were out on foot, we could use other resources, such as a police dog. Where there was a four wheeler, it’s very difficult. It’s unusual, but I have dealt with other cases of a farm animal being mistaken for a deer," said Cpl. Andy Kerr of Enfield RCMP. "We’re suspecting jackers are probably responsible and mistook it for a deer. A lot of times they’re just looking for the reflection of the eyes. I wouldn’t say they had to be drunk. At this point there’s no indication alcohol was involved, but it’s possible." Insomnia kept Ms. Mullins up most of the night of the shootings, but she didn’t hear the sound of an all-terrain vehicle driving on her property, nor the shots. The next morning, neighbours driving by saw Baylee lying on the ground. They went to investigate, then knocked on the farmhouse door to give Ms. Mullins the disturbing news. "I couldn’t believe it at first. I said, ‘No way, it can’t be possible,’ " said Ms. Mullins, whose husband is away working. "They must be stupid to mistake a horse for a deer. Horses would have run after the first shot, and horses don’t run anything like deer. "The horses have been here for 6½ years. Everybody remembers when she was born; she was so strikingly beautiful. This really sucks. She was very kind, very gentle. Anyone could walk right up to her, walk right under her." Hants East MLA and Agriculture Minister John MacDonell said he’s never heard of any previous incidents in the riding of a horse being shot. "And I don’t even remember hearing of any other cases elsewhere," he said. "It could only be one of two things: either an animal was mistaken for a deer, or an animal was intentionally shot. Neither of those is acceptable." Ms. Mullins said it’s common to see ATVs driving up and down the road in the area, but they don’t usually come on her property. Police found ATV tracks and a shell casing right beside her fence. "They wanted to know if I had pissed anyone off lately. I said ‘Not that I know of, I’m a pretty friendly girl,’ " Ms. Mullins said. "They drove right up to the fence; they know they shot my horse. She was a beautiful horse, and it was a useless act." ... http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/1151685.html Partager ce message Lien à poster Partager sur d’autres sites
