Last May, a pony was found dead in Berny-en-Santerre, near the Haute Picardie TGV station, in the Somme. Intriguing detail, the animal had a severed ear. A case which, strangely, is far from isolated. Since the beginning of 2020, the gendarmes have identified nine other similar ones. The events take place at night, mainly in the departments of the North of France - Oise, Aisne, Seine-Maritime, Yvelines, in the Vendée…
Investigations are entrusted to the local gendarmerie brigades by the prosecution services to which they depend. They are supported in their work by specialists from Oclaesp (Central Office for the Fight against Environmental and Public Health Attacks) who provide their expertise and carefully identify these intriguing facts. “It's really weird. Is this the work of crazy people? Are these morbid rituals? Stupid challenges? At present, no track is privileged ”, confides to 20 Minutes a source close to the file.
Unclear motivations
Why do the perpetrators remove the ear of the animal when killed? “The only reconciliation we have been able to make is that at the end of a bullfight, we also cut off the bull's ear. So there is this effectively "trophy" side that can appear. For motivation, it would be something a little more of the order of the ritual. But, for the moment, there is nothing which tends to prove it ”, explains to Francetvinfo the squadron leader Manon Vuillermet.
Miscellaneous
More and more people implicated for mistreatment and abandonment of animals
Society
Marseille: A man arrested after an "outburst of violence" on his dog
- Miscellaneous
- Animals
- Abuse
- Gendarmerie
- Horse
- Animal cruelty