Horses being killed in South Florida — for their meat?

Author: admin

11 Aug

MIAMI, Florida (CNN) — Geronimo was a beautiful painted quarter horse.

“He was a type of horse that he got along with everybody,” says owner Ivonne Rodriguez. She had Geronimo for five years — until his slaughtered carcass was found under a tree.

For Geronimo, home was a 10-acre pasture in a rural area of Miami-Dade County. The horse, Rodriguez says, made many people happy over the years.

“He was ridden by everybody,” she says. “He was irreplaceable.”

Geronimo had a distinct look — brown and white, with a thick white stripe that ran from his forehead to his nose. It was this mark that helped a neighbor identify Geronimo after he was reported missing.

Someone is killing horses in Southeast Florida.

Since January, 19 horses have been reported butchered — 17 in Miami-Dade County and two in Broward County.

And that might be just a conservative estimate.

“That number is extremely low,” says Richard “Kudo” Couto of the South Florida Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. “There are many more slaughters in South Florida.”

Couto, an SPCA investigator, says many butcherings are going unreported by people who do not want to get involved with law enforcement. Police concede that underreporting of such animal cruelty crimes is a concern. Next >>