A panther is the leading suspect in an attack on a yearling Miniature Horse that left the diminutive equine injured and two guard dogs dead in Manatee, Fla.

HeraldTribune.com reports the 18″ horse named Tivo was attacked sometime Saturday night or Sunday morning. He escaped with a shredded ear and tears in his neck, while two of the three guard dogs in his enclosure had to be euthanized due to their injuries.

“They went to its defense–it cost them their lives,” Tivo’s co-owner Jean Palumbo said. “It seems very brazen of an animal to come into an area with dogs and buildings and attack livestock that way.”

The veterinarian who examined the horse and dogs thought the injuries might have been caused by a big cat, an opinion shared by environmental specialist Debbie Blanco