CLARKSDALE, MS (abc24.com) - In a horrible case of animal cruelty in Clarksdale, Mississippi, three horses were shot at point blank range; two of them were killed.
It happened Feb. 29 while the animals were in their pasture. Now the horses' owner is desperate to get whoever did this off the streets.
Catherine Davis points out where a bullet hit Cotton, one of her five horses.
"The bullet went at an angle all the way up," she described. "He had to take the forceps all the way up and pull it out."
Cotton is the lucky one. He lived. Two of Davis' other horses didn't.
"With buck, they put the gun right up under his chin and fired."
All three horses were shot sometime before dawn.
"With Pride, they left him out here for hours with compound fracture," Davis said, "The bone was sticking out and it was just dangling."
Buck was dead when Davis showed up, and Pride's wound was so severe he had to be put down.
Davis' pasture has been their home for the last 15 years. It's also where they're now buried.
"They'd been together all their lives so we wanted them to be together in death."
Davis has had the animals for 18 years; her horses are like her kids. Local police are taking their killing seriously.
Captain Robbie Linley with Clarksdale Police say they are investigating the case "almost like it would be if victims are human," adding the crime is a felony offense.
But, investigators still don't know much. The pasture is isolated and they're looking for witnesses.
Davis stated, "Anybody who would shoot anybody's animals, anybody's pets, has to be stopped."
Davis is setting up a reward, and begging anyone who knows something to come forward. In the meantime she's moved Cotton and her other horses to safer pastures.
