Horse Shot with Paintballs, Investigation Underway

Update 3/30/16:

A Rhode Island man has been charged with animal cruelty in the case of Lily, a 20-year-old mixed-breed pony. Phillip S. Price, 65, was identified on surveillance video as having abandoned the pony at the New Holland horse auction. He has been charged with three counts of animal cruelty for not seeking treatment for Lily’s infected eye, among other violations. He is not, however, charged with shooting Lily with paintballs, and investigators are still seeking information on the pony’s origin and who is responsible for her condition.

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Lily remains in the custody of the New Bolton Center where she is recovering from her injuries.

Original article continues below.

Someone shot at this horse
with a paintball gun at close range. Photo via Lancaster
County SPCA/Facebook

If you’ve ever been shot at with a paintball, you know those things can hurt. Now imagine being shot at close range by one. Or worse, 130 of them. That is what happened to an abandoned horse found yesterday at New Holland Sales Stables in Pennsylvania’s Lancaster County.

LancasterOnline reports that employees of New Holland Sales Stables, a horse auction site, “discovered the animal in a back stall when sales had ended for the day… The horse had not been registered as ‘for sale’ Monday and had no visible identification.”

The Lancaster County SPCA is investigating the situation after being called to the scene yesterday afternoon. The SPCA Executive Director, Susan Martin, told LancasterOnline that the 20-year-old mare, an Appaloosa/Arabian pony mix, was underweight and “in a substantial amount of pain when touched.” She is also blind in her right eye. A veterinarian gave the mare pain medication at the New Holland Sales Stables before Omega Horse Rescue transferred her to the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine’s New Bolton Center, a facility that specializes in caring for large animals.

Martin told LancasterOnline that the mare is expected to survive, but that her recovery will be lengthy.

The
Lancaster County SPCA is asking for the public’s help to locate the
owner of this horse.Cruelty Officers received…
Posted by Lancaster
County SPCA on Monday,
March 14, 2016

Anyone with information regarding this horse or her owner is urged to call the Lancaster County SPCA at (717) 917-6979 (all calls are anonymous) or email them at info@lancasterspca.org.

8 years ago

Cari Jorgensen

Cari Jorgensen is a web content specialist who is also an adjunct professor of English at Santa Ana College.

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View Comments

Jessica says:
March 15, 2016 at 3:33 pm
I think this is a scam. First the horse dose not need 10,000 in care. When I asked her about it and to prove her care she blocked me. Also the way she posted it the first time before she changed she maid it sound like she did it. Also paintballs come in groups of 500 and 1000 all the same color. They go bad. I do not see someone spending 50$ a box of 500 and getting one in every color that is on this horse. Also this is not the first time this lady did this kind of stuff to rase money, with a bullshi* story
Janna says:
March 15, 2016 at 5:51 pm
Jessica, it's real, unfortunately. I'm from the area. It's been all over the news since yesterday.
Q says:
March 16, 2016 at 4:06 pm
Jessica International
The funds being raised are to get the mare care she has desperately needed including surgery for her eyes as well as other issues. You obviously have never had to pay vet bills. As to your comment on the paint balls cost there are idiots out there who don't care about price and buy the crap for the destruction and and in this cause torment it can cause. For all we know this mare could have been on Craigs list for free and someone thought it would be a hoot to do this and dump her. It's been done to other animals. Before you trash someone look beyond your scope of reason. There are fools out there who pay tens of thousands just to shot animals.