“It is barbarism.
It's incomprehensible, ”laments the manager of the Ferme de Berval.
This Grisy-les-Plâtres equestrian center had to undergo two mutilations of horses during the night from Friday to Saturday.
A mare was injured in the vulva and another equine was lacerated on the side.
This would be the first case of this type in Val-d'Oise.
Surveillance rounds were organized by volunteers overnight from Saturday to Sunday.
Several attacks have already been observed in neighboring departments, such as Yvelines.
A horse was injured in the leg in Marcq last month.
In Chevreuse, a mare suffered a neck injury a few days ago.
In July, a donkey had a cut ear in Harvest.
And in April, a mare died from her injuries in Magny-les-Hameaux.
According to a note from the intelligence services, there have been about thirty attacks of this type, in about twenty departments in France in recent months.
In two-thirds of the cases, the horse has had an ear cut off.
In many cases, the attacks carried out resulted in the death of the animal.
On several occasions, the investigators noted traces of poisoning.
“Everyone is a little on the teeth,” says Jean-Louis Bussereau, president of the departmental riding committee of Val-d'Oise.
These attacks created strong anxiety.
In Sannois, the Le Galop equestrian center suspected poisoning when it saw two horses fall ill on Friday afternoon.
One of the two died.
After an autopsy and blood and urine tests on the horse still alive, this doubt could be ruled out.
Both horses had suffered from colic.
Mobilization but no panic
After the events in Grisy-les-Plâtres, the departmental riding committee issued a note to its members calling on them to be vigilant but also to restraint.
"We ask them to remain calm, to take pictures if they see something suspicious and to call the police or the gendarmerie", underlines Alain Chaspoul, technical advisor to the committee.
"It should not be that someone gives a gunshot to a person walking around," worries Jean-Louis Bussereau.
In some areas, horse owners are organizing.
In Orne, a department well known for its horse breeding, a group of 200 people was formed to do rounds.
“We do random marauding.
We give one hour per night and per employee, ”explains Eric Elias, from the Ornaise association for the protection and surveillance of the horse.
They also let it be known everywhere that this group was formed.
“We do public signage everywhere, in shops too,” he says.
The Minister of the Interior expected in the Oise
The phenomenon is taken seriously by the government.
The Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin, and of Agriculture Julien Denormandie must go this Monday to Plailly, in the Oise, at the limit of Val-d'Oise, where a horse was found dead in July.
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They must in particular participate in a working meeting with the investigation services and representatives of the equine sector.