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2nd Recent Horse Shooting Thought To Be Accident

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By MIKE WELLS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 8, 2008

Updated: 02/08/2008 04:52 pm

Investigators do not think that two recent horse slayings in eastern Hillsborough County are related.

This week's shooting likely was the result of a nighttime hunter mistaking the brown-and-white horse for a large deer, sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said.

"That property backs up to county-owned property, and there is a lot of illegal hunting that goes on there," Carter said. "In the dark, it could have been mistaken for a deer."

On Thursday morning, Clark Osborne found his 2-year-old warmblood, Marvin, dead on his property at 9012 Lithia-Pinecrest Road. He was feeding his animals Wednesday night when he last saw Marvin alive.

A veterinarian examined the horse and determined he had been shot and died during the night, Carter said. The veterinarian could not find the bullet and said it possibly shattered inside the horse.

Marvin's owner disagrees with the sheriff's office's theory.

If the shooter mistook the 1,200-pound horse for a Florida deer, then he needed glasses, Osborne said.

"There's no mistaking that animal for anything but a horse," he said. "I've got a gelding that maybe you could mistake in the dark for an elk or a bull moose, but there ain't no damn deer that big."

His mood has changed from somber to angry, he said.

"Yesterday morning I was sad," Osborne said. "Today I'm pissed. I watched him being born. … I liked him."

On Jan. 17, someone shot Rocky, a quarter horse, at Little Creek Ranch in Riverview. He was shot once in the head as he grazed along the fence off Simmons Loop Road.

More than $3,000 in reward money has been raised through donations for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever killed the horse, said Rocky's owner, Irene Griffith.

She has ordered a sign made with the reward information and will soon have it mounted on the property, Griffith said.

"The only thing left I can get out of this is justice," she said. "That's because I can never get him back."

Donations are being accepted at Wachovia Bank, 13140 U.S. 301 S., SL5956, Riverview FL 33579. Checks should be made out to "Rocky's Reward Fund," Griffith said.

Both shootings remain open investigations, Carter said. Anyone with information is asked to call the sheriff's office at (813) 247-8200 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-873-8477.

Reporter Mike Wells can be reached at (813) 259-7839 or mwells@tampatrib.com.

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