Owners look for justice after horse attacked with knife

My Fox Phoenix 10

FOX 10 News | myfoxphoenix.com

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - A horse nearly died after being cut with a scalpel, just missing his jugular vein.

The innocent animal was almost killed on Wednesday night. 

The horse's owners say someone slipped in the backyard and sliced through their horse Jerry's neck.

The four-year-old show horse is recovering in his pen in a remote area of the Rio Verde Foothills. 

"He's like my baby and everybody knows that," said Jana McDowell. 

Jana McDowell says she went to check on her horse Wednesday night and found him bleeding. 

She says someone snuck in and sliced through Jerry's neck. 

"There was no ripped tissue, it looked like it had been sliced," said Jana McDowell. 

McDowell, a veterinarian herself, knew right away she needed to call an equine surgeon. 

After stitches, the horse should be OK, but McDowell says if the cut were any deeper, Jerry would have been dead. 

"It was six and half inches long, narrowly missed jugular vein which runs in the jugular furrow," said Jana McDowell. 

McDowell and her husband Jeff are trying to figure who would hurt their horse. 

"The problem we are running into, what's the motive? Who would be crazy enough to do something like this? We, of course, are living on pins and needles for fear it might happen again," said Jeff McDowell. 

"I am devastated still, but I can't imagine how I would have felt if I would have come out here and found him in a pool of blood dead," said Jana McDowell. 

The couple says they reported the attack to the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office. 

They also say neighbors saw a suspicious SUV in the area around Wednesday night that is described as a white or light colored older model Suburban. 

If you have any information you are urged to call MCSO. 

Sheriff Arpaio: (602) 876-1801

OR

Contact Information:

Scottsdale Police Department

8401 E. Indian School Road

Scottsdale, AZ  85251

480-312-5000