For the third time in less than three months, a horse at the Prince George Agriplex has had its tail cut off. All three are owned by Lea-Ann Oosterhoff.
The latest incident was even more mysterious because only a handful of people knew that Oosterhoff was the owner of the third horse, and it was not kept in the same paddock as the previous two equine victims, Remi and Fabio.
"She was just out of the stall enjoying the sun. She had only been on the grounds for five nights," said Oosterhoff, who trains and rides high-level show horses. The vandalized tails hurt each horse's chances of success in the show ring, as well as cause the horse to be without a valuable natural tool.
Remi and Fabio were de-tailed by someone rubbing caustic paste into their horse hair (Fabio's skin was burned as a result). This horse's tail was cut with a sharp blade, but it was not fully bobbed. It appears, said Oosterhoff, that the culprit was interrupted before completing the slice.
Since this latest incident over the weekend, she has taken all her horses out of the municipal equestrian centre located at Exhibition Park, in between CN Centre and the Aquatic Centre.
"The horses have all been moved," she confirmed. "I'm clearly a target and someone or a group doesn't want me there. I still do not know why."
"We take the safety of visitors and users very seriously at our complex," said Barb Warkentin, president of the Prince George Horse Society, the caretakers of the taxpayer-owned facility. "We have a security service at night, and lock the gates between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. In the last year, we installed cameras to help with the security, to discourage crime and to provide a record for police in the case of such unfortunate events. Staff is on the site from early morning to evening."
These measures have not helped Oosterhoff's situation so far, although the RCMP has been increasingly interested in the case since Remi was first targeted in early February, followed by Fabio about a week ago.
"When you have an issue such as we have at the present time, the [horse society] board must look at all the options available," Warkentin said. "At the present time we will be increasing our security around the facility and working with the police to find the person or persons behind this act. We are establishing a safety plan with the boarders, and starting a crime prevention neighborhood watch with Prince George Community Policing. We are going to be looking at a key fob system for those who board at the arena."
