A family in Oregon is grieving the loss of their treasured pony named Gir, who was shot to death by an officer for no reason, the family told KATU.
Crista Fitzgerald, of Molalla, is demanding answers after she found her 30-year-old American Miniature Horse dead in her neighbor's yard on the morning of February 18. The Clackamas County Sheriff's Office said the horse suffered two broken legs after it wandered onto the highway and was struck by a car. So a sheriff's deputy put him down.
But Fitzgerald doesn't believe police's account of what happened to Gir.
"He was part of our family...There's no way to replace him," she said.
The night before he was killed, Fitzgerald said Gir was locked safe and sound in his stall inside a barn. She said she woke up the next morning to find the pony gone. Judging from his old age, Fitzgerald said she knew he could not have gone far.
It wasn't long before they found Gir laying in a neighbor's yard apparently taking a nap.
But "we walked up closer and I bent down to pet him, and that's when I saw the pool of blood behind his cheek bones," she told the station. A neighbor came outside and said she called police and a sheriff came and shot Gir.
"When I called the officer he said that he had gotten out on the highway and gotten hit by a car and broke both of his back legs," Fitzgerald told KATU.
According to the sheriff's office, the unnamed deputy is believed to have first called the Oregon Humane Society and asked if the animal could be euthanized. But the OHS said the officer never called.
The cop then called a local veterinarian and also asked about euthanizing the pony. The unnamed vet told KATU that he did agree to help, but the cop told him he would "take care of the problem on his own."
After a final call to his supervisor, the deputy shot the horse, KATU reported.
Fitzgerald, who doesn't believe Gir was injured or hit by a car, had her own vet perform tests on her beloved pony. She said the vet found nothing wrong with him.
But just to be sure, Fitzgerald had another vet perform a necropsy in late February. Experts concluded Gir was healthy despite his old age and that he died from a gunshot wound.
The autopsy also found his legs were not broken, according to the station. The Fitzgeralds filed a report and police are now investigating the incident.
"If I had gone out and shot the pony I'd be in jail right now. That's cruel," Fitzgerald said.
