Law enforcement authorities in Georgia are hoping the offer of a $25,000 cash reward will lead them to whoever is responsible for killing a horse and injuring another residing on a Thomas County farm last month.

Thomas County Sheriff R. Carlton Powell said that on Dec. 30 the owner of a Metcalf, Ga., farm discovered the horse dead near a fence in its pasture. The animal’s throat had been cut, Powell said. A second horse had also sustained a cut wound to its throat but survived, Powell said.

Powell said the horses’ owners believe that someone lured the horses to a hole in a fence, then slashed the animals’ throats.

Lt. Tim Watkins, the Sheriff’s Office chief investigator, said that if caught, those responsible could face animal cruelty charges