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Rural Nevada shootings claim 4 horses, 2 burros Author: Associated Press
LAS VEGAS-- Four wild horses and two wild burros have been shot to death in the
past month in a scenic area northwest of here and some suffered agonizing
deaths, a federal investigator said.
"It was pretty graphic, and cruel," Melody Stehwien, a law officer with the U.S.
Forest Service, said. "It appears they did not die instantly. They could have
suffered. There was some ground disturbance, indications they pawed the ground
in pain and tried to flee the area."
The carcasses were found in three different locations in a half-mile radius near
scenic Mount Charleston, 40 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
The Forest Service issued an appeal for help from the public in identifying the
shooters. Wild horses and burros are protected under both federal and Nevada
law.
"Anyone responsible for maliciously causing the death or harassment of any wild
free-roaming horse or burro is guilty of a felony and subject to significant
fines and/or imprisonment," said U.S. Forest Service Special Agent Charlie
Vaughn.
Stehwien said those found guilty in the shootings face a fine of up to $2,000
per animal and possible jail time.
"At this point we don't have any idea as to who did this," Stehwien said. "We
don't know if there was more than one shooter."
A couple of calls have been received, Stehwien said, but she declined to
elaborate.
"We can't speculate as to the motive," she said.
The Forest Service and the National Wild Horse Association are offering a $3,000
reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or
people responsible for the deaths.
The discovery of the shootings came a year after a similar incident east of
Reno. In that case, more than 30 horses were found shot to death. Three men from
the Reno area have been ordered to stand trial in April on charges of maiming or
killing another person's animal.
There are an estimated 40,000 wild horses in the West, about half of them in
Nevada.
Stehwien said there was no indication other horses or burros had been shot. Las
Vegas Metropolitan Police have searched the area by helicopter and found no
other carcasses, she said.
Some 50 wild horses and 40 burros are believed to inhabit the area, Stehwien
said.
One of the burros was shot in the head, but others were shot in such a way that
they may have suffered for some time before finally dying, she said. It is not
known what type of weapons were used.
Five wild horses were shot to death in the Red Rock Canyon area west of Las
Vegas in January 1991. Shooting sprees in rural areas around Battle Mountain and
Lovelock in 1987 and 1988 left 660 wild horses dead.
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