Wild Horses Shot to Death in Nevada
DECEMBER 29, 15:13 EST
By SCOTT SONNER
Associated Press Writer
RENO, Nev. (AP) ù Twenty-five wild horses were shot to death at close range with a rifle
in the worst slaughter of free-roaming horses in Nevada in a decade, investigators said
Tuesday.
``This kind of stuff is just sick and absolutely senseless,'' said Paul Iverson,
administrator of the Nevada Division of Agriculture. ``Some of them were shot and left to
suffer for a long period of time.''
All of the horses appeared to have been shot on Sunday about five miles east of the
Reno-Sparks area. The carcasses were found in a valley known as Devil's Flat.
The horses included several young colts and pregnant mares. Some were maimed and at least
one was tortured with sprays to the head from a fire extinguisher after being shot,
sheriff's Sgt. Bob Towery said.
``I have no reason why. There's no rationale for it,'' Towery said.
State officials were using a metal detector to locate and remove bullets from the
carcasses to be sent to a forensics lab. A reward totaling more than $10,000 was posted
for the arrest of the killers.
``There's just total outrage. People are so upset,'' said Lydia Hammack, president of the
wildlife association in Virginia City. ``These animals are magnificent animals and I
really can't understand how somebody can do this. It's a real sicko out there.''
Investigators do not believe the killings are related to the longstanding tensions between
ranchers and government managers of wild horses, said John Tyson, a Storey County range
management officer. For decades, ranchers have complained that wild horses compete with
their livestock for limited food in the high desert.
The slaughter is believed to be the biggest single shooting of wild horses in Nevada since
as many as 600 were killed during a two-year period in the mid-1980s.
Those shootings were linked to friction with ranchers, but ``we just never were able to
get enough evidence to go to court with anybody,'' said Bob Stewart, a spokesman for the
federal Bureau of Land Management.
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Editor's Note: CNN NEWS 2/23/99 ~ The killers were caught and got 15 years in prison!
Last updated on 02/01/2006 07:45 PM