Thieves killed a mare to sell their meat in Maracay

Rafael Toro, a student at Venezuela's largest veterinary school, suspected something was wrong when a beloved mare, Miss Congeniality, did not greet her on the fence recently, like other members of the small herd of the center.

The bright-eyed mare earned her nickname for helping disabled students overcome their fear of riding. They say that she was smart and even jogged when they called her by name.

To his surprise, Toro discovered the animal's skin and its discarded bones hidden among the trees in the grbad of a corner of the university campus of the city of Maracay, in the center of the Venezuela. During the night, the thieves jumped the fence, killed the horse and took his meat, either to sell it or to feed their hungry families.

"I burst into tears," said Toro, who announced the new macabre to the people. other students. "We all came here, we all cried."

A murder is not an isolated incident. In the face of economic collapse and exorbitant inflation in what was once a thriving oil nation, people are struggling to buy the few commodities available and crime driven by hunger and despair is on the rise .

The country complains that its flocks are facing the same fate. Local media, illustrated with grotesque images of dismembered animals, indicated that small groups of men were caught in the act of smuggling stolen horse meat.

Teachers on the campus of the Central University of Venezuela in Maracay complain about thieves. they took air conditioners and electrical cables, which forced them to teach in obscure clbadrooms and sweat poured down their backs.

Bandits seem to have focused their attention on the sacrifice of horses and other animals essential for survival. learning the next generation of veterinarians in the nation.

The meat of an adult horse could reach $ 1,400 in the market, depending on the equivalent price of Venezuelan beef, making it a lucrative business in a country where the monthly minimum wage of one worker is less than 10 dollars, depending on the rate of use High on the black market.

A few months before the disappearance of Miss Congeniality, thieves killed two horses donated to the university and quarantined in a nearby pasture, Toro explained. Since the end of 2016, seven cows, including a precious bull that was the center of the center's selection program, have been shot dead by bandits who sneak onto the campus to enjoy the night.

"Such a loss is also quite expensive," says Professor Daniel Vargas, who oversees the university's livestock breeding program.

Traditionally, Venezuelans have been repelled by the idea of ​​eating horsemeat, which makes recent events particularly troubling, note the teachers, who suspect that customers buy the product from their butchers. Making them believe that it is beef

The faculty reports each case, but for the time being, the police have not arrested any suspects. The school budget has been frozen for more than a decade, which has led security guards to leave their posts, leaving the center at the mercy of criminals, authorities said. university.

external, "said Isis Vivas, dean of the School of Veterinary Medicine." Anything is possible. "

Toro, who loves animals since his childhood and plans to graduate from school. next year, thinks that Miss Congeniality was chosen from the small herd of five horses, she was four years old and she was plump and at her best.

Faced with this tragic loss, she kept her skull for the future generations of students can continue to learn from her, for example by measuring the age of a horse by examining her teeth.

"We would have liked her to have stayed here more in the faculty, let her offspring. But regretting it a lot, it was not like that, "said Toro.