Two of our front page stories from the past week certainly qualify as weird: the Miami-area horse killings and the recent poisoning of 23 California Saddlebreds.

We started following the Miami horse poaching in March, when area investigators said at least a dozen cases had been reported. Read the first story. Since that time the killings have progressed fairly regularly, with two in the past two weeks.

Freelance writer Pat Raia is doing a great job staying on top of a situation that’s about as clear as mud, and is burrowing into USDA and state regulations regarding sale and inspection of horsemeat in Florida–the messages we’re getting from different camps are inconsistent, so stay tuned while we try to get this figured out and clearly explained. Regardless, the way in which these animals are being killed (and the theft simultaneously performed by that act) is certainly criminal.

Here’s the most recent story. Follow the links in the article to go back to previous coverage