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GUEST ARTICLE
Attacks on horses linked to satanic rituals
Paul Harris
Sunday November 10, 2002
source: The Observer <http://www.observer.co.uk/>
(For some reason this site was inaccessible at the time of ublication.)
A series of attacks on horses across the country has been linked to devil
worship and black magic groups who carry out bizarre rituals on helpless
animals.
Horse owners have been warned by welfare experts to examine their animals
for signs of hair being cut or plaited, blood samples being taken or any
indications of stress or sexual assault.
There have been more than a dozen of the night-time attacks, which started
late last month. They have taken place in Scotland, Wales, East Anglia and
Nottinghamshire. In two attacks on horses near Aberdeen, the animals had
their tails hacked off. In one of the incidents, a horse's dock - an
extension of the spinal cord - was deeply cut by the attacker. Other horses
have had snips taken from their their manes and tails, which have been
'plaited' with a sticky substance.
Investigators have found small stone cairns in the fields where the attacks
have taken place. The stones have been covered in burnt horse hair and
candles. Black magic symbols, including pentagrams and double-headed axes,
have been discovered drawn or carved nearby.
Officials from the National Equine Welfare Council and the Scottish Society
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals have called on horse-owners to be
vigilant. 'Anyone who owns a horse has to be careful at the moment,' said
Elaine Cannon, executive secretary of the NEWC.
The International League for the Protection of Horses has offered a £5,000
reward for information leading to the arrest of those carrying out the
attacks. Horse-owners have been told to increase and vary the times they
check on their animals and to report suspicious people near their
properties. In some parts of the country 'horse watch' groups have been set
up.
This year's attacks follow a smaller outbreak of incidents in
Nottinghamshire last year, which also began in October in the run-up to
Hallowe'en. Those attacks petered out by Easter and it is being investigated
whether the incidents are related to important dates in the occult calender.
'We have to study the pattern of this thing. Only by doing that can we
really begin to find out who might be behind them,' said Doreen Graham, at
the Scottish SPCA.
Experts are worried that the attacks will escalate into serious assaults on
horses, such as slashings and mutilations. But they also say tampering with
a horse by a stranger can be traumatic for an animal. 'Some of the horses'
tails have been very badly hacked. It is very stressful for them,' said
Graham.
Members of Britain's growing community of pagans have also been enlisted to
help identify those responsible for the attacks. A representative of the
Pagan Federation - an umbrella body for a variety of spiritual beliefs - is
assisting the Scottish SPCA.
Andy Norfolk, a spokesman for the federation, said all mainstream pagan
beliefs held life as sacred and would not sanction attacks on animals.
There have been previous attacks perpetrated by 'horse rippers' who slashed
horses around the genitals. The worst spate of incidents occurred between
1983 and 1993 when more than 160 horses were believed to have been
mutilated. No convictions were ever made.
