© Jason Bean/RGJ A $25,000 reward is being offered for information that leads to an arrest and conviction in the slaying of five wild horses outside Ely.
More than a year after five wild horses were slaughtered outside Ely, the Bureau of Land Management and wild horse advocacy groups are still seeking answers as to who killed the horses and why.
In November of 2021, five horses were discovered within 600 yards of each other about two miles south of Hwy. 50 in Jakes Valley.
An aborted horse fetus was attached to one of the dead horses. Another horse was found alive, but it was wounded so severely it was euthanized.
A necropsy revealed the horses were 18 months to six years old. The BLM estimates they were killed within 24 hours of their discovery.
A $25,000 reward is now being offered for information leading to the arrest of who shot and mortally wounded the horses. The National Mustang Association contributed $10,000, American wild horse campaign contributed $5,000 and Wild Horse Education added $5,000.
The 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burro Act of 1971 declares the animals “be protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death.”
In 1998, nearly three dozen wild horses were shot to death at close range with a rifle in a canyon east of Reno. Some were maimed, and at least one was tortured after being shot.
Three Wooster High School graduates were eventually arrested for the shootings. The men were accused of grand theft, grand larceny and poisoning, and maiming or killing another person’s animal.
The 1998 slaughter was believed to be the largest single shooting of wild horses in the state since the mid-1980’s, when roughly 600 horses were killed over a two-year period due to friction with ranchers, the BLM said at the time.
Anyone with information about the Jakes Valley incident is encouraged to call the BLM crime hotline at 1-775-861-6550.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Amy Alonzo covers the outdoors, recreation and environment for Nevada and Lake Tahoe. Reach her at aalonzo@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Reno Gazette Journal: $25,000 reward offered in case of slaughtered wild horses