02/09/2020

The news hit the world headlines in the past few weeks, but it seems that sadistic episodes involving horses, donkeys and ponies have been going on since 2018 in various parts of France. The upsurge in the last cases has launched an out-and-out manhunt, also thanks to the identikit provided by the owner of a shelter who found two men while they were stabbing a horse and two ponies, and who also suffered several injuries during the scuffle.

The list of these cruel attacks on horses is long, and the French authorities have drawn a map, though they are still trying to improve clarity: according to some sources, the episodes are about 15, according to others at least 30.These are real attacks.
In most cases the animals were found dead, with some missing organs and always with the right ear cut off. Just as it happened to a pony at Saint-Vallier in Burgundy, who was found dead in her paddock (very close to a busy road) with her skull crushed, part of the muzzle mutilated and without her right ear. Something similar happened to a horse in Saint-Aubin-de-Baubigné, still in Burgundy, who was found with her right ear cut off. In Trégor, in Brittany, a horse was found with his ear torn off but still alive: according to the vet who rescued him and who also took a blood sample to verify whether the animal had been sedated or drugged, a clean and precise cut was made with a scalpel or knife. One of the last victims is a horse in Istres, in Bouches-du-Rhône, who was found alive but without his right ear. In general it is clear that the person who does this knows how to approach horses and is proficient handling cutting instruments such as knives and scalpels: it seems that horses are killed by stabbing in the throat and heart, but also by strangulation. And then they undergo the mutilation of the right ear, and sometimes also the removal of organs including eyes, heart and genitals. In some cases, the marks on the muzzle suggest that a nose ripper was involved, an instrument used to induce horses to stand still by squeezing their muzzle and causing severe pain in that area.

Who does this and why is a mystery at the moment. In France there are 4 Public Prosecutor’s Offices involved and for now they can only express suppositions: sadism, satanic sects, tests of courage among foolish youngsters, online challenges.
As investigations go on, the French police officers have released a list of recommendations for horse owners, including daily monitoring of the pasture, avoiding leaving them with the halter, immediately reporting any presence or passage of suspects and immediately reporting to the police in case of attacks.

The Nouvelle République prepared a map of the attacks that occurred on the territory, which casts serious doubts on the likelihood that only one person is doing this.

As reported by the Corriere della Sera, these phenomena are not new: in 1983 a series of acts of cruelty to horses was recorded in the United Kingdom, which reached 160 in 10 years and whose perpetrators were never found. A few years later a man who had inflicted similar wounds to horses and who was already known to the police for paedophilia, was arrested in Germany.


IDENTIKIT OF THE POSSIBLE ATTACKER AND KILLER