Colorado law enforcement authorities are investigating the death of a horse ostensibly butchered for meat in Eastern Pueblo County.

Pueblo County Sheriff Kirk M. Taylor said an owner reported Jan. 12 that his horse was missing and that a chain on a gate to his property had been cut. He later found the remains of the missing horse in a hay shed nearby. The 20-year-old Quarter Horse’s throat had been cut, the carcass had been stripped of meat, and several organs—including the heart and liver—were missing, he said.

Although similar incidents have occurred in recent years in Florida, this killing is the first of its kind reported in Pueblo County, Taylor said.

“We believe this to be an isolated incident,” he said