A wild animal was not responsible for killing a Wisconsin horse, according to necropsy results on the horse, which were released last week.

On Dec. 29, operators of Freedom Stables in Deerfield, Wis., discovered the 7-year-old Quarter Horse mare dead in her paddock. She had sustained a severe laceration to her neck.

Investigators from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and other agencies suspected the death was caused by an attack by a wild animal, possibly a cougar, said DNR spokesman Bob Manwell.

But results of a necropsy performed by the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Lab at the University of Wisconsin at Madison revealed no evidence suggesting a cougar had caused the wound