Las Vegas, NV (AP) - Authorities are investigating the fatal shooting of a mule and several previous suspicious incidents involving a family-owned trail ride business that uses public land in the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area.
Michael Flood, general manager of Cowboy Trail Rides, found the 11-year-old mule, June, dead when he arrived for work Saturday morning.
“You got to be a sick individual to shoot a horse in the pen,” Flood told KVVU-TV.
In previous weeks, a 3-year-old horse named Mouse was found dead in a pen and there were two occasions where somebody released horses and mules from pens overnight.
It’s not clear how Mouse died but foul play wasn’t suspected at the time, Flood said. “Young horse, in good health. We had just rode him the day before.”
The federal Bureau of Land Management and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department are conducting a joint investigation.
Flood said he told BLM rangers about a man who was damaging trails used by riders and who said he didn’t think horses should be the area used by the trail rides.