Deputy shoots family's pony through the throat, shattering his jaw and leaving him to suffer and finally bleed to death

OREGON -- A Clackamas county family wants to know why a sheriff's deputy shot and killed their beloved pony. They claim it happened without them knowing, and for no good reason.

Crista Fitzgerald said her family’s 30 year-old American Miniature Horse, named Gir, was fine - except for his old age. Gir was so healthy he was able to escape from his stall in a Molalla barn sometime overnight on February 18.

 

"I locked his stall door, and I always do a double check. The next morning I came back out before I had class in the morning, which is around 10, and he was gone,” she said.

Fitzgerald knew Gir couldn’t have gone far from the barn.

"We started knocking door-to-door. And the first house we came to he was laying in their yard,” she explained.

She thought Gir was taking a nap, but it turns out he took a couple bullets instead.

"We walked up closer and I bent down to pet him, and that's when I saw the pool of blood behind his cheek bones. The neighbor came out and told us she had called the sheriff's department and they put him down,” Fitzgerald said.

"When I called the officer he said that he had gotten out on the highway and gotten hit by a car and broke both of his back legs,” she said.

Clackamas County Sheriff Office spokesman Sgt. Nathan Thompson tells KATU News the officer did believe the horse had broken legs from being hit by a car.

 Thompson also said he believes the deputy called the Oregon Humane Society to ask about euthanizing the horse before he shot it. A spokeswoman for OHS tells KATU News the deputy never called them.

Thompson also said the deputy called a local veterinarian to ask about euthanizing the horse. KATU News reporter Hillary Lake contacted the vet about that call. He confirmed he did talk to the deputy, that his office offered assistance in euthanizing the horse, but that the officer said he would “take care of the problem on his own” and call a rendering service himself.

Thompson said the deputy made the decision to shoot the horse after also consulting his supervisor.
“There wasn't very much I could say at that point because they shot the pony. I mean, i didn't know how to react,” Fitzgerald said.

She didn't believe Gir was hit by a car or that it had broken legs as the neighbor told the deputy, and the sheriff’s office claims.

"My vet said there was absolutely nothing wrong with him,” she said.

So she sent Gir's body to Oregon State University's veterinary lab on February 25 for a second opinion.

The report says Gir died by gunshot, had no broken bones except for a fractured jaw caused by a bullet, and was in excellent body condition considering he had arthritis.

"If I had gone out and shot the pony I’d be in jail right now. That's cruel,” Fitzgerald said.

The Clackamas County Sheriff's Office is investigating the shooting because Fitzgerald’s husband filed a report.

The Oregon Humane Society can’t confirm if it started, and then stopped, an animal cruelty investigation into Gir’s shooting.

But the hardest part of this loss for her is explaining to her children why they can't ride Gir anymore.
"He was part of our family…There's no way to replace him,” she said.

(KATU - March 5, 2015)