$2,500 Reward Offered for Wisconsin Shooter

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In most cases, they didn’t hear any shots fired. In others, it was several days before the owners of a horse and a number of cattle had been shot at.

It all started when the Dunn County Sheriff’s Department received three different reports of horses that were shot and killed on Sunday, Nov. 29, between 3 and 5 a.m. in an area near Prairie Farm.

According to Rhonda Abbuehl, she and her roommate were awakened by a gunshot. It was later discovered that her 9-year-old horse “Rex” was wounded in the rear quarter after someone apparently shot him from the road near her home on 1450th Avenue in the Town of Sheridan. Although his wounds were treated, Rex died Monday morning.

Nearby, fellow Sheridan resident Denise Stuber found her horse dead from a gunshot wound in its front quarter. And in a field just a few miles away on County Road V in the Town of New Haven, Rose Ellsworth reported that a horse in her care was shot in the head and killed.

On Friday morning, Capt. Mike Tietz of the Dunn County Sheriff’s Department said that although the investigation was progressing, no arrests were imminent.

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) announced on Friday afternoon that it is offering a reward of up to $2,500 for information “leading to the identification, arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible” for the shootings.

“These helpless animals were shot to death, and the killer needs to be held accountable,” said HSUS’ Wisconsin State Director Alyson Bodai. “This kind of intentional cruelty to animals is unacceptable to the people of Wisconsin, and those responsible for these senseless deaths need to face a stern penalty.”

The perpetrator(s) would be charged with felony animal cruelty and if convicted, could face more than three years in prison.

I believe the shootings span over three counties now.

Only three years??? You know what this reminds me of? The Washington D.C. sniper. You know what he got? Death penalty. I'm not saying we need to go that extreme, but we need to be a heckuva lot harder than this. Whoever's shooting these animals could easily turn to choosing children as his targets next.

Woman Off the Hook After Killing Horse

Short rant. Sorry. I was going to talk about the mustangs, but I'm not sure if I can do that without getting fully ticked off anymore.

The Fairbanks district attorney has dropped charges against a Two Rivers woman accused of killing her neighbor's horse.

The neighbor did not respond to the district attorney's phone calls and letters about the case.

The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported 48-year-old Jamie Rogers had been charged with misdemeanor weapons misconduct for the shooting in October 2008.

She said she fired a warning shot to scare off horses and was unaware she hit one. She said she was protecting her property and should not have been charged.

The criminal complaint said the neighbor's horses had escaped a wire fence and had been in the area previously, biting and kicking Rogers' horse, and she was afraid for the lives of her animals.

You do not shoot a horse to scare it off. How can you possibly kill a horse and be unaware that you shot it?

Barn Fire at Ohio Harness Track

Today we need a moment of silence for the two people and 55 horses killed in a barn fire at Lebanon Raceway in Cincinnati, Ohio.

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Two people and at least 55 horses were killed in a fire that swept through a barn at the Lebanon Raceway near Cincinnati, Ohio.

The fire occurred early Saturday morning. It was reported at around 5:30 a.m., but by the time firefighters reached the scene, the barn was engulfed in flames. CBS affiliate WHIO said the fire caused the roof to collapse.

The station also reported that the barn housing was made of wood, but wrapped in sheet metal, essentially creating an oven-like environment.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, but authorities do not suspect criminal intent.