Mare and foal found shot and burned near Elveden
Police and animal welfare organisations are investigating how a mare and foal found shot and burned near Elveden died.
The carcasses were found by horse riders in King’s Forest near the B1106 about two miles from Elveden on Sunday and the Norfolk based horse welfare charity Redwings said today that it was sending one of its welfare vets to examine the bodies.
A Suffolk Police spokeswoman said:. “In terms of offences being investigated – we’re looking at a variety at the moment. These could include firearms offences, fly tipping etc. This is not yet known.”
PC Mark Bryant said: “I suspect that they’re either not needed, not required or ill and, to save cost, somebody has decided to take the law into their own hands.
“What you can’t do is just go out into the countryside, shoot animals and dump the carcasses.
“There are ways and means of doing this and this is way outside of what I would consider to be acceptable.”
The RSPCA is also involved in the investigation.
Rachel Angell, operations manager at Redwings in Hapton, said: “We can’t imagine what trauma the mare and foal went through.
“We would say to anybody in the situation of having to put to sleep more than one, it comes down to making sure the person doing it is efficient and the process must be as prompt as possible.”
A vet would normally shoot horses with a 0.22 pistol close to the head, but it is feared a shotgun may have been used in this case.
Ms Angell said because of the over supply of cob-type horses, welfare charities were ‘full to the brim’ and only able to take in cruelty cases. She said they were seeing an increasing number of horses being got rid of in inhumane ways.
“We have heard and been involved in cases where horses and ponies being disposed of in this manner,” she said. “We seen some horrific cases of cruelty where they’ve been drowned and burnt alive.”
Anyone with information should call Suffolk Police on 101 quoting CAD 14122014183, alternatively if you would prefer to pass on information anonymously please contact CrimeStoppers on 0800 555 111
