Enumclaw horses shot with pellet gun: 'Why would you even shoot a horse?' owner asks
ENUMCLAW, Wash. -- Someone shot three horses grazing in a pasture in Enumclaw with a pellet gun -- and the owner of the farm wants to know why.
Chris Barkhurst is taking extra special care of the horses at CJ Stables, after discovering someone shot three of the animals with steel pellets last Friday.
"We actually saw the end of the pellet sticking out" of one of the horse's coat, Barkhurst said Wednesday. "Right here, there's now a little scab and a little bump -- that's where we pulled the pellet out ... and there's a little scab on both sides of his leg."
The horses are recovering and did not require veterinarian treatment.
Barkhurst said it happened as six horses grazed in the pasture right in front of his home along SE 400th Street in Enumclaw.
"This is a busy road ... so it concerns us if somebody had the time to pull over and shoot, or were they just driving down the road shooting?" he asked.
And just because horses are big doesn't mean they are invincible.
"When a fly lands on a horse, it feels it and twitches its skin so one would assume there's a lot of nerves and a lot of feeling in them, so I'm sure the initial pain was probably pretty great."
Barkhurst said that since the incident, he's been warning his neighbors.
"If a car is pulled over in front of a horses' pasture, maybe people are gonna watch and see what's going on," he said.
He has filed reports with the King County Sheriff's Office and Animal Control Services.
"It really needs to stop before one gets hit in the eye, the face, a tendon, a joint," he said. "One pellet could mean $15,000, $20,000.
"Is this going to happen again? What would somebody be thinking? I mean, why would you even shoot a horse?"
