France shocked by horrific ritual mutilation killings of horses
- Up to 30 attacks have been reported in France and with each ambush, the mystery only seems to grow
- Theories abound as to whether the acts are a morbid rite of an unknown cult or a chilling ‘challenge’ relayed by social media
Police are stymied by the macabre attacks that include slashings and worse. Most often, an ear – usually the right one – has been cut off, recalling the matador’s trophy in a bullring.
Up to 30 attacks have been reported in France, from the mountainous Jura region in the east to the Atlantic coast, many this summer, the agriculture minister said on Friday. One attack was registered in February, according to the newsmagazine Le Point. With each attack, the mystery only seems to grow.
“We are excluding nothing,” Agriculture Minister Julien Denormandie said on Friday on France-Info, before heading to a riding club in the Saone-et-Loire region, in east central France, where a horse was attacked a day earlier.
“Ears are cut off, eyes removed, an animal is emptied of its blood …,” he said, spelling out the morbid fates befalling one of France’s most beloved animals.
“All means are in motion to end this terror,” the minister tweeted.