By JESSE GRAHAM
POLICE have poured cold water on reports that a number of horses had been shot in the Yarra Valley earlier this month.
Other media outlets reported last week that a horse in Dixons Creek had been shot, after a Facebook post from the horse’s distressed owner.
The post, which was put online on Monday 6 April, featured numerous photos of the horse, with a wound resembling a gunshot, and the owner said they had heard of other horses being fatally shot at the same time.
Numerous follow-up posts appeared from outraged residents, calling for the shooter to be found.
But Yarra Ranges Criminal Investigation Unit Detective Sergeant Mark Smithwick told the Mail that there had been no shooter, with a vet-check confirming the horse had impaled itself.
“There’s nothing in it,” Det Sgt Smithwick said.
“A vet checked the horse and it had impaled itself on something.
“It had some sort of impaling-type wound, like a stick.”
The Mail attempted to contact the horse owner, but received no response by deadline.
