Reward offered after family's 7 horses, 2 donkeys shot and killed

Credit: Alan Crowhurst

Credit: Alan Crowhurst

A reward is being offered for information on the person or people who shot nearly a dozen horses and donkeys in a Mississippi field earlier this week, killing seven horses and two donkeys.

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"My father-in-law got a call, said that some of his horses had been shot," Tara Christian told WTVA on Tuesday. "This is cruel, absolutely cruel, to do this to animals. To do this to the poor kids."

Officials said nine horses and two donkeys were shot in Chickasaw County sometime Monday night or early Tuesday. Seven of the family’s horses and two of their donkeys, described by Christian as family pets with names like Spot and Lineback, were killed.

Veterinarians are hopeful that the other two injured horses will survive, Chickasaw County Sheriff James Meyers told The Associated Press.

He called the attack, in which some of the animals were shot several times, a “strange, terrible, terrible crime.”

On Thursday, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals announced a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or people behind the attack.

"Whoever did this is dangerous,” PETA Vice President Colleen O’Brien said in a news release.

Authorities continue to investigate the case.

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