Sniper targets horses

last updated 8 January 2015

Edmonton, Alberta

A sniper shot and killed a sleigh horse in a field near Edmonton last week, the fifth such attack in three weeks. Police said the shootings appeared to be the work of a serial sniper roaming northern Alberta, picking off horses with a .22-calibre rifle. Someone, possibly the same gunman, also shot out windows in several businesses and houses nearby. “Someone who is this brutal is a step away from doing it to a person,” said Michael O’Sullivan of the Humane Society of Canada. Tanya Hollasch found two of her horses wounded in roadside pastures; one died. The violence has shocked the community, she said, and terrorized her family. “My son is 9. His horse is going to have a baby in two months, and all he does is cry every night.”