Butchered Horse Discovered In Hialeah Pasture

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) - A grotesque discovery in a Hialeah field.

The slaughtered remains of a three year old Quarter Horse were found in a pasture at 9715 NW 138th Street. The location was once where the South Florida Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SFSPCA) was based.

Dio Benitez made the discovery.

"It was horrible, just the fact that before I got to the horse I started seeing the trails of blood," said Benitez.

Benitez knew he was in for something bad, he didn't realize just how bad until he came upon the remains.

"I couldn't believe it. I still can't believe that somebody would do this to somebody's pet. To us, horses are like a child. I'm still in denial that somebody could do this," said Benitez.

The horse, Smart Amanda Whiz, came from a very impressive family line. She was going to be a show horse. Instead, investigators said, someone grabbed her from her stall and viciously slaughtered her.

"This horse, obviously through the blood trail, was stabbed in the heart, about 300 feet behind us, scattered in a zig zag like fashion and fell to our left, right over the fence here," Richard Couto, with Animal Recover Mission, told CBS4's Ted Scouten.

But that wasn't the worst part.

"The horse definitely, obviously, suffered and was probably butchered alive. These guys start harvesting the meat well before these animals stop breathing," said Couto.

Horse experts warn that the meat from these horses is dangerous for human consumption.

"We vaccinate our horses from the day they're born the horses are dewormed," explained Laurie Waggoner from the South Florida SPCA. "If they're sick, they're on antibiotics."

Anyone with information of the horse's slaughter is asked to call Hialeah police and/or contact animalrecoverymission.org.

Anyone with information of the horse's slaughter is asked to call Hialeah police and/or contact animalrecoverymission.org.