A reward of £500 is being offered for any information leading to the arrest and conviction of the perpetrators of two different attacks against horses in Surrey.
Surrey Action for Equines (SAFE), an organisation that works in conjunction with Surrey Police to promote equine crime prevention, is offering the award after two vicious attacks in the past two weeks.
On 29 August, a 35-year-old Shetland pony suffered a brutal attack in his stable off Broad Lane in Newdigate.
The pony, named Beau, suffered horrendous injuries, which included three gaping wounds to his face and cuts all over his head.
Police believe that a dog, goaded to attack by its owner, caused the wounds.
Due to the noise from a neighbouring party, the pony was not discovered until the morning, when he was found standing in the centre of a blood-strewn yard.
“Beau is a family pet and is completely trusting to humans. He would have quite happily allowed strangers into his stable,” his owner told a local paper. “He is now hardly able to eat and is fighting for his life.”
A spokesman from SAFE told H&H: “The pony is still very traumatised. Although he has been taken off the drains, he is still on antibiotics. Time will tell whether he’ll fight off a bone infection”.
In an unrelated incident on Wednesday 2 September, a 17hh, 13-year-old Irish sports horse fell victim to a savage attack while in his field in Markedge Lane, Chipstead.
The grey gelding was left with two three-inch knife slices on his underbelly and a three-inch puncture wound in his groin.
The horse was found in his field the following morning, and an attending vet confirmed the wounds had been sustained between 3am and 6am.
Local neighbourhood specialist officer PC Ed Ferris said: “This is a shocking and deliberate act of animal cruelty. This incident has distressed the owner who has had the horse since it was five years old.”
Further to this, Surrey Police received a historic report of an attack that occurred in the same area on Thursday 9 July. The owner initially thought the injuries were sustained in a nasty accident, but in light of the recent incident believes the two cases may be linked.
Officers from the Reigate and Banstead Safer Neighbourhood Team, working in conjunction with SAFE, are appealing for more information.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Surrey Police on 0845 125 2222 quoting reference RB/09/8575.
