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Police Probe Slaughter Of SW Miami-Dade Horse

SOUTHWEST MIAMI-DADE (CBS4) - When ranch owner Julia Yapell discovered the head of horse at a nearby canal Monday, she broke down.

"I've seen several, and it's never easy to see, it's never easy to see that. It's horrible," she said.

The horse had been slaughtered. All that was left was it's head and some bones.

Other horses roamed free, seemingly abandoned.

"But this particular group had been there at least three to four weeks," said Georgina Milhet.

Milhet says she saw the horses. She snapped a photo of them two weeks ago.

She's convinced a black and white horse -- known as a paint -- is the one that was slaughtered.

"They like the paints cause they like the hide. Plain and simple. They like the colors of it," said Milhet.

Nearby ranch owner, Luis Villanueva, says he saw that horse near the canal every day.

But suddenly, it disappeared.

"Sunday morning or Saturday afternoon," he said.

Horse slaughters have plagued this area for years. In fact, just before we met, Villanueva found his dog playing with a piece of horse hide.

"God knows where this came from. There might be another slaughter," he said.

In Monday's case, animal rescuers from the SPCA rounded up the remaining horses. But, we're told, the owner showed up. He said only the ones alive were his.

That owner, Ivan Mantilla, was charged with having livestock at large. No one knows who owns the slaughtered horse, but Milhet hopes this all ends soon.

"They're leaving them out there, people can't afford their horses, but we need to stop this because now we have the slaughtering back again, and that's my concern," she said.

Milhet says she alerted police, but Miami-Dade PD says it can't comment because this is an open investigation.

If you know anything about what happened out there, call Miami-Dade Crimestoppers at 305-471-TiPS.

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