Manatee County detectives are looking for a person or people who slaughtered a Florida horse on a farm in Palmetto, Fla. The horse, named Phedras de Blondel, weighed 1,300 pounds and was a prize-winning show horse, according to The Bradenton Herald. The animal was led away from his stall at Imperial Farms between 8.30 p.m. on Saturday and 6.45 a.m. on Sunday, taken to a pen in the back of the 27-acre property, where he was killed and butchered expertly.
Debbie Stephens, co-owner of the farm and a champion rider, noticed that the 12-year-old horse, imported from Germany a few days ago, was missing from his stall on Sunday and went to look for the chestnut jumper when she made the horrific discovery.
"(They) just dismembered him right there and just left his rib cage and his neck and head," said Stephen's husband, Steve Stephens, according to USA Today. "All four legs were cut off of him. I don't mean at the knee, I mean from his shoulder."
Investigators believe whoever slaughtered the horse, did so for his meat. "We determined it was basically slaughtered right on their property, presumably for the horse meat," said spokesman for the Manatee County sheriff's office, Dave Bristow, according to The Washington Post.
"What they did to this horse had nothing to do with his value," Debbie said. She did not reveal the price she paid for the horse, but champion horses can fetch tens of thousands of dollars. "It's one of the cruelest things that could happen to any horse. This just turned my life around."
Horse meat is illegal in the state of Florida and there are stringent restrictions on the sale of horse meat for human consumption, but there is a black market for it, said Nick Atwood, spokesman for the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida. The sale, purchase, distribution, transportation or possession of horse meat unless "it is clearly stamped, marked, or described as horse meat for human consumption," is prohibited in Florida. Horse meat has become illegal since no U.S. slaughterhouses process it anymore.
"It's a horrible crime scene, and obviously for the owner to have to go through this is just absolutely terrible," said Bristow.
Earlier this year, a similar prize-winning competitive horse named Smart Amanda Whiz was slaughtered for her meat in Hialeah and a couple of weeks ago, Palm Beach County officials raided three slaughterhouses accused of illegally selling horse meat.
