Animal abuse investigators say the remains of a slaughtered horse were found in a rural area of Southwest Miami-Dade.
The discovery was made Thursday night in the area of 81st Terrace and Southwest 123rd Avenue by a neighbor, Animal Recovery Mission head investigator Richard Couto said.
"He's butchered to the bone, this horse is in 150 pieces," Couto said.
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Couto said the horse was very young, about 1 1/2 to 2 years old.
"These guys love to butcher young horses, they think the meat is more tender and it has stronger municipal properties for healing different ailments, which is a fallacy," Couto said.
He said the butchers likely got more than 500 pounds of meat off the horse, which was very large. He believes it was butchered on Halloween night for a party.
"Serious signs of struggle, the horse on the right side of his head was struck with a blunt object," Couto said.
Slaughtered Horse Found in Southwest Ranches
The discovery was made even more shocking when an investigator found the remains of another horse that had been slaughtered nearby.
"This is a dump area that's been used before," Couto said. "Somebody's used this site before."
Though often times the horses are slaughtered for their meat, sometimes they're also killed as part of rituals, Couto said. He said a rope and signs of "ritualistic ceremonies" was found near the scene Friday.
Miami-Dade Police are investigating the incident.
