In 1969, director Sydney Pollack took filmgoers on a journey back to the Great Depression with a critically-acclaimed psychological drama whose title posed the question “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?”
It may have taken 54 years, but in 2023, an unknown gunman in the Beehive State is answering that question with an emphatic “YES!”
Officials in Utah are looking into gunshot deaths of dozens of horses found in a remote patch of desert that borders the Navajo Nation.
So far, 23 dead horses have been discovered since January of 2022.
Hundreds of horses freely roam the stretch of land, and their presence draws a mixed assortment of opinions, with some enjoying spotting the animals in their natural habitat and others believing that their uncontrolled numbers are hurting the local ecosystem.
Navajo rancher Wayne Yanito, for one, loves coming across free-roaming horses.
“When you're out there in the middle of nowhere — nothing — all of a sudden, you see a horse. Whoa! There's actually something out here! It makes your day,” Yanito told NPR. “It just makes your day.”
While horses have long been revered in Navajo culture, Wayne Yanito’s brother David explained to NPR that opinions are changing.
“These new generations, they don't believe that no more,” he lamented.
Using a drone equipped with a camera, the Yanitos have been documenting the animals’ slaughter for the past year.
So far, law enforcement hasn’t had much to go on in their investigation, but the Yanitos believe that justice will eventually come for the assailant.
“It's going to catch up with him,” David Yanito said. “It's going to catch up with those people that's doing it.”
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