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Dozens of horses found slaughtered for meat, possible ritual sacrifice

Posted at 3:05 PM, Jan 10, 2018
and last updated 2018-01-10 17:07:55-05

By CBS Miami Staff

HIALEAH, Fla. (WFOR-TV) — A woman feeding stray dogs in a remote area of northwest Miami-Dade stumbled onto to the scene of a horrific horse slaughter.

Animal cruelty investigator Rachel Taylor said they found dozens of horses, or their parts, in various stages of decomposition in the area of 179th Street and 129th Avenue. All of the legs had been stripped of their meat. She said it looks like the animals were killed elsewhere and dumped here.

“You’ve got horse hooves, bones, hips, these have obviously been here for a long time,” she said pointing to an area under some trees.

Taylor, who works for the non-profit Animal Recovery Mission, said from the looks of it, the most recent kill was just a day or two ago. But that wasn’t the worst of it. She said they found, a short walk up the road, more dead horse remains, almost all of them next to feed bags.

She said while horses are usually slaughtered for their meat, evidence in the area shows some of them were likely used in a ritual sacrifice.

“They’re in every couple of feet, it’s like this whole area is a graveyard,” she said, “That’s what’s alarming to me.”

Taylor suspects the horses were stolen, she said this is one of the worst cases she’s ever seen.

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