Animal control officers in Tift County, Ga., responded to reports of a dead horse found floating in a creek off Wiley Branch Road on the afternoon of Sept. 23, according to the online edition of the Tifton Gazette. When the officers searched the area, they also found a dead dog. Both animals had been shot in the forehead. The area will be searched for more animals, and officers will be patrolling Wiley Branch Road.

After removing the horse with a backhoe, officers determined the horse was about 12 years old, according to the Gazette article. Animal control officer Guin McDaid said in the article, “To me, it looks like the horse was hauled here in a horse trailer and stood on the bridge beside the creek, then ‘pow-pow’ and the horse falls into the creek.. I don’t think the horse could have been dead before it got here because there were no marks on the road like something had been dragged