SPARTANBURG, S.C. (AP) - Several horse owners in the Carolinas are still keeping a close eye on their animals, not entirely convinced most of the recent attacks on horses in the area were cause by wild boars.
Agents with South Carolina’s State Law Enforcement Division announced Wednesday that five of six horses seriously injured or killed in northern South Carolina are nearby North Carolina this fall were attacked by wild boars and had not been shot or stabbed, as initially feared.
Maryanna Haymon has never heard of a wild boar attacking a horse before the report and found it interesting that no other horses were injured after a community meeting on the attacks brought together hundreds of people last month.
“I don’t discredit SLED’s report, but I find it incomplete,” Haymon told the Herald-Journal of Spartanburg. “Why after the community meetings did all the attacks stop? I just think it’s an easy way out.”
Haymond said she still has lights on her horses at her Columbus, North Carolina, farm at night and regularly checks on the animals.
State agents released photos of wild boars near horses along with their report and cited veterinarians who helped with the investigation.
Wildlife agents also helped, flying planes with infrared cameras that can detect animals in the dark over areas where the horses were attacked, South Carolina Department of Natural Resources spokesman Greg Lucas said.
“The infrared radar showed a lot of interaction with hogs and horses in the area,” Lucas said. “Some of the hogs were trying to get some of the feed.”
Veterinarian Vivian Freer at first thought one of the horses named Shadow was cut with a hunting knife or something similar because the wound was deep and appeared to be made by something sharp. She said she has since learned the tusks of wild boars can cause similar damage.
“Since that time I have seen many photos of lacerations created by wild boar and Shadow’s wound is very consistent with the other wounds,” Freer wrote in a letter released by state agents.
The attacks happened in Spartanburg and Greenville counties in late October and November. The horses had wounds so deep that intestines or bones were exposed. Three of the five horses were killed or had to be euthanized, authorities said.
A sixth case involved a horse who did turn out to be shot and that remains under investigation, authorities said.
To help control the rapidly growing wild boar population in northern South Carolina, wildlife agents are allowing both day and night hunting of the animals with a special permit.
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