FLOYD COUNTY, Ky. — Authorities say at least 15 horses have been fatally shot at a strip mine site in eastern Kentucky.
WYMT-TV reported Tuesday that the horses were found on a site along U.S. 23 near the Floyd-Pike County line.
"Seeing them gunned down is.. it's beyond horrific," Tonya Conn, with Dumas Rescue, told the CBS affiliate. "These horses were scattered in various, various places, distances from each other so they had been shot, and they'd scattered then hunted and shot down."
An animal rescue group says the dead horses were scattered over a large area and it appears they were hunted. Authorities said some of the horses were young and some were pregnant.
Floyd County Sheriff John Hunt says the “inhumane” act could lead to animal cruelty charges at a minimum.
"This is very inhumane and it's a very cruel act of somebody who just apparently had nothing else to do or whatever just to go back on a strip job and shoot down horses who were, one of them obviously was feeding, had grass in its mouth," Hunt told WYMT-TV. "It looked like a battlefield for just horses, we counted 15 that we found dead."
A $500 reward is being offered for information.
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