Detectives probe animal cruelty allegations

Victorian horsewoman Kate Attard has seen the worst – and the best – of human nature in the aftermath of a malicious attack which has left one of her harness racing team still fighting for life a month after the incident.

Four-year-old gelding Magaccis (Always B Miki) was the target of what Attard believes to be a deliberate and targetted attempt to kill the horse by injecting it with an unknown substance at her property at Red Cliffs, near Mildura, on September 11.

“I’ve got no doubt it was deliberate – Kenny (Magaccis) was in a yard among other horses, so I believe whoever did this came particularly for him, not just any horse on the property,” Attard said.

“It’s been extremely stressful. Everyone knows how much we love our horses – they’re like our family. I’m so upset and angry that anyone could hurt an innocent animal and put him through what he’s been through,” she said.

Attard went public to offer a reward for information that could lead to an arrest or help in Maggacis’ recovery.

“I’ve been absolutely overwhelmed by the kindness of so many people who’ve been in touch, supported us and who’ve offered information – there is good information coming in, and that’s being passed on to the police investigation team,” she said.

The alleged incident is being treated by detectives as a case of aggravated animal cruelty which in Victoria carries a maximum penalty of an $80,000 fine or two years’ imprisonment.  The RSPCA is also investigating.

Attard has since upgraded security on the property to allow remote monitoring of her horses, house and sheds, but said she carries guilt about not investigating a disturbance with her horses on the night the incident happened.

“I was asleep in the back room, but I woke up to hear the horses running around.  I was getting ready to go outside but then it went quiet, and I thought it must have just been a fox around,” she said.

“I just feel so guilty for that because it might not have happened.”

Attard said she had got up the next morning and found Maggacis’ gate open.

“I thought that was odd, but I left him to have his breakfast and then when I bought him in to jog him, I noticed a mark on his neck.  He didn’t seem himself and I contacted our vet Megan O’Shea and she advised us to let the stewards know, and to keep an eye on him,” she said.

“Kenny just kept getting worse until eventually he wouldn’t or couldn’t get up. Blood and urine tests showed that if he wasn’t such a fighter, he probably would have died.

“All we could really do was give him pain relief. It was a real battle for him for over two weeks and it was an absolutely terrible time for all of us.  He’s still not out of the woods, now, but he is improving slowly, and we are hoping for the best.”

Attard said Maggacis’ rug had blue residue from the injected substance, and testing showed high levels of copper and sulphur, but without a definitive conclusion about what the substance was.

“If we knew more about what substance was used, we would know more about how to help him.  Meg (O’Shea) and the Bendigo Equine Hospital have been fantastic, but everyone has been working in the dark to some extent.”

Magaccis is owned by Attard’s partner Matt Keam and her daughter Charli Masotti.

“It’s been a terrible time. We’d been dealing with a cancer diagnosis for Matt, and he’d had major surgery only about a week before this happened,” she said.

“He is back at work now, but the doctors are still deciding what his future treatment will look like.  It was already a really hard time for us, and this was just enormously stressful and so upsetting on top of what we were already going through.”

Attard said Maggacis was now back on his feed and showing signs of improvement.

“His blood results today were a little better than last week and that’s always encouraging, but the vets say his bloods will keep changing week to week,” she said.

“There’s still a possibility of blood transfusion and bone marrow testing to give us a better idea of what the toxins might be, but at this stage the vets are recommending that we try not to give him a lot more medication and basically try to let nature and time take its course.

“So at this stage they’re telling us to keep doing what we are doing. We’re just hoping for the best and taking each day as it comes.”

by Harnesslink Media