A Florida law enforcement officer is warning horse owners to carefully vet buyers before selling an animal in person or online.

Captain David Walesky, operations manager for Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control, issued the warning after department personnel discovered the severed head of a horse floating in a drainage canal in The Acreage neighborhood.

Walesky said department personnel made the discovery Dec. 19 after a passerby who spotted the skull. Further investigation revealed a bullet hole in the skull from a kill-shot to the horse’s head, he said. Part of the horse’s tail was also found, but the remains were too severely decomposed to determine how long they were in the water, Walesky said