Update: This story has been updated to include reward information offered by HAB.
ASHEVILLE - The Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office opened an investigation after a beloved family horse was found shot to death, the agency confirmed on Jan. 3.
Sweet Tea ― an affectionate, 14-year-old Haflinger belonging to Anita and Ted Mack in Alexander ― was found dead with a gunshot wound after the two returned from celebrating the holidays Dec. 30, Anita Mack said.The horse got its name from “being a real sweetheart” that loved “coming up to people and hugging on them,” she said.
“We’ve been out of town for Christmas, and we had one of our tenants watching our animals,” she said on Jan. 3. “We have hobby horses ― just horses that we use for pulling some wagons and riding, that sort of thing ― here on our property, along with some cattle.”
A Jan. 1 Sheriff’s Office report says the incident might have been a case of animal cruelty.
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Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Aaron Sarver said that the agency took a report and opened an investigation after a deputy visited.
Though the state’s Wildlife Resources Commission does not have jurisdiction in such matters since it does not involve a wild animal, it is increasing patrol in the area, right by the popular Sandy Mush Game Lands, the agency said.
“We are looking into violations of the Land Owner Protection Act by increasing patrol in the area and suggesting that the land owner use surveillance cameras,” Wildlife Commission spokesperson Mindy Wharton said. “However, our purview does not include domestic animals.”
The act deals with trespass law and hunting, fishing and trapping, and allows for quick enforcement when someone trespasses while doing one of the three. It also gives landowners a way to post their land, warning any would-be trespassers. To be on posted land, hunters must have written consent, it reaffirms.
Although few details were provided by the Sheriff's Office on Jan. 4, Mack said that with her family’s 52-acre farm bordering on the game lands, hunters have trespassed before.
“We perpetually have problems with hunters coming onto the properties and, you know, wandering about hunting,” Mack said.
The most recent round of bear hunting season in Buncombe County lasted from Dec. 12 to Jan. 2. Deer hunting season with a gun started Nov. 21 and ended Dec. 10.
Mack said she has seen anti-trespassing signs shot up, fences cut, and cattle that have been shot before. Other neighbors have expressed similar frustrations, which they believe can be attributed to local hunters, she said.
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“We’ve had hunters before take potshots at anything and everything,” she said. “There’s just no control.”
No similar incidents have been reported in the area, nor any arrests for such incidents made, Wharton said.
Mack's understanding on Jan. 4 was that the Sheriff's Office was not investigating because of a lack of video or picture evidence, she said. Sarver did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the confusion — after he said there was an open investigation — or for further information on what the Sheriff's Office had learned.
"My biggest concern is, I want to make sure that we don't have ... something going on that others haven't filed reports for, or what have you," Mack said.
"You know, maybe someone would at least just anonymously send us an apology saying, 'We didn't mean to do this,' and it wasn't (something else) going on," she said.
To report hunting violations to the Wildlife Commission, call 800-662-7137.
After this story was first published, local animal advocacy nonprofit Help Asheville Bears has offered a $5,000 reward for "any information regarding this case and the person(s) responsible," the group said on its Facebook page. Tips to HAB helped the Wildlife Commission find its suspect in a recent case where three black bears were found dead, with their paws cut off and their entrails in a bucket.
"As you can see, our rewards work," said HAB founder Jody Williams.
"Just zero respect," Williams said of Sweet Tea's death. "Or they're just plain-out poachers, not hunters. I mean, who in the world just goes and shoots a horse?"
To anonymously report information to HAB, call 1-855-SOS-BEAR.
Ryan Oehrli covers public safety for the Citizen Times. Comments? Questions? Tips? Send them to coehrli@citizentimes.com.
