Police Investigate S. Fla. Horse Slaughter
NORTHWEST MIAMI-DADE (CBSMiami) – Miami-Dade Police are investigating the gruesome killing of a horse whose body was dumped on the side of a road in Northwest Miami-Dade.
According to police, the carcass of a slaughtered horse was found overnight and dumped at NW 181st Street and 129th Avenue. It appears, police say, that the horse was killed at another location and its body disposed of on the side of the road.
An investigator told CBS4's Maggie Newland that scene was disturbing. He added that the horses' legs were removed and finding slaughtered horses is not uncommon.
According to Richard Couto with Animal Rescue Mission, an organization dedicated to stopping the illegal slaughter of horses, the dead horse was a 10-year-old thoroughbred and an ex-race horse.
It's not known why the horse was slaughtered but South Florida has had its share of horse slaughters where people kill the horse for its meat which is then sold on the black market. The sale of horse meat is illegal in the U.S.
"The meat is going between $7 to $40 per pound in our state," Couto said. "It's a high commodity item and when there's demand there's going to be supply."
