Horses Butchered in Meat-Seeking Massacre

Two more carcasses found slaughtered in Miramar

By JEFF BURNSIDE and BRIAN HAMACHER

Updated 1:31 PM EDT, Thu, May 14, 2009

Two more horse carcases were found in South Florida and officials say it's all for the sake of selling the meat on the black market.

Two more horse carcasses were found on a small Miramar farm and police believe they were slaughtered for their meat in what is becoming a continuing problem in South Florida.

More Horses Slaughtered in Miramar

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Following the killings of dozens of horses in Miami in March, two horses were killed in Miramar and police say it's for the meat.

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The horses' owner called police after he found his two animals slaughtered last week, brutally butchered, missing several body parts and laying in pools of blood.

And it's not the first time. In March, dozens of horses carcasses were found stripped of their skin and meat and left on the side of the road in Miami, and officials say it's all for the sake of selling the meat on the black market.

"My Lord. Who would do something like this?" ranch owner Humberto Ramos told the Sun-Sentinel. "I can't sleep now. My blood pressure has been high for a week."

Though not illegal to eat in the U.S., the sale of horse meat for human consumption is illegal. Owners of horses are free to slaughter them for their own meal.

Though not a staple of the American dinner table, equine meat is in high demand by natives of the Caribbean, Cuba and other European countries who crave horse cuisine.

The horse meat can go for as much as $20 per pound on the black market.

The Humane Society of the United States is offering a reward of $2,500 for info leading to an arrest in the killings, and police say they're actively investigating the deaths.

Miramar police spokeswoman Tania Rues said that the three-year-old and seven-year-old horses were very important to Ramos.

"I think these horses were more than just pets to this person. He was very emotionally attached to them," Rues said. "It was just more than losing a pet."



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