Another Horse Slaughtered for Meat in Miami
Butchers dismember horse in Southwest Miami-Dade
By GRAY HALL and BRIAN HAMACHER
Updated 4:57 AM EDT, Tue, Jul 21, 2009
Another horse was found mutilated and killed over the weekend in Southwest Miami-Dade, apparently the latest victim of amateur butchers only interested in the animal's meat.
The horse was found tied to a tree and dismembered along 212th Ave., the latest in over a dozen horse killings in the area in the past few months.
"It's horrible. It's really frustrating to see something that has been going on for some time," said Oscar Martinez, who owns a farm nearby where the latest horse was found. "They have been killing horses all over this area."
Martinez said he thinks the crime happened Saturday night, and that the killers were likely scared off by a car before they were able to collect all the meat. The horse was found Sunday.
"They do it at night. When they see a light coming, they just run away. This horse, they were not able to slaughter him completely," Martinez said.
Officials believe the meat is then sold on the black market, where it can go for as much as $20 per pound. The sale of horse meat is illegal in the U.S.
"What they do, they kill them, they slaughter them and they sell the meat in the black market. Based on what we have heard, it's a profitable business," Martinez said.
A police task force has been set up to investigate the killings, but so far, there have been no arrests.
"Nobody seems to be able to do anything about it. We called the police and I know they have a lot of things to do," said Carmen Aja, a nearby farm owner who has horses of her own. "Unless they get somebody doing it, they say they can't do anything."
Aja hasn't lost any horses yet, though she said she lives in constant fear that her horses will be next.
"Everytime we come to our farm, we're scared that we're going to be missing an animal and we're going to find him dead at a corner, slaughtered to pieces with the buzzards flying overhead," Aja said.
First Published: Jul 20, 2009 5:52 AM EDT
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