Defusing those kinds of hostile situations is what the police are paid to do - but in fact they have to do much more. Today that extended to putting down an injured horse on the side of the road. And when a gun needs to be fired into a skull at close range, who you gonna call? Crispin Jeffries, of course! 7NEWS was at mile 3 on the Western Highway when it went down. Here's the story.
Jules Vasquez Reporting,
The horse was found here just before 8 this morning. At the time, he was standing on three legs and his front leg had been mangled.
Caroline Bowen, Humane Society
"I came out at about ten after eight and found the horse standing there and looked and saw it was a multiple compound fracture and the fracture was bleeding so it was going to inevitably bleed to s slow death. I think it looks like the animal definitely was hit. It has some marks along its spine which looks like it has been rolled."
And nearby, police collected shattered pieces of a red GMC vehicle. But whoever hit this horse has its owner to blame.
Dr. Michael DeShield, Veterinarian
"Tying an animal on the side here like that and not attended to, the owner should have known this was happening and he should have checked on his horse. This is something a lot of people do; just tie their animals on the side of street so that it could graze. That is not a very good practice"
And after giving the horse an anesthetic, the Humane Society called on the police to put the horse down. Jeffries first got the ok from the Commissioner of Police and then Dr. DeShield showed him how to administer the single shot to the head - and it was over in a second:
Dr. Michael DeShield,
"Shooting the animal at the right spot is very quick and that is considered humane."
A humane end, but unfortunate circumstance - that left this animal rights advocate outraged:
Caroline Bowen,
"Oh utter anger: anger, anger, anger. Just the fact that someone could tie an animal up in this situation is unfathomable."
Within minutes the horse was carted away by a City Council backhoe and it was then buried nearby. Up to newstime, they still had not tracked down the owner.
