Law enforcement authorities in three Wisconsin counties are investing a series of shooting incidents that left five animals dead or dying in their pastures.

Three Dunn County horse owners discovered their animals either dead or dying in their pastures on Sunday morning. One wounded horse died the following day. All the animals had sustained small caliber gunshot wounds, said Dunn County Police Capt. Michael Tietz.

The horse shootings were the latest in a series of livestock killings, Tietz said. Sheriff's Deputies in nearby Barron County previously discovered a cow dead in its pasture, and St. Croix County authorities are investigating the shooting death of a horse there.

"We believe these shootings were deliberate acts, and that they are all related because they all happened in close proximity to one another," Tietz said

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