Canadian animal welfare and law enforcement authorities are investigating the deaths of 40 horses discovered crowded near a fence at the Peigan Reserve in Southern Alberta. The horses were among more than 1,000 equines residing on the reserve. The animals' owners are unknown.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police discovered the horses' carcasses in the remote 30,000-acre grazing area near Brocket, Alberta, on April 30 after a caller reported seeing a dead horse on the reserve.

The horses may have crowded near the fence to escape high winds, wet snow, and rain caused by a winter storm moving through the area.

"(The storm) made for tough conditions, especially for the younger animals," said Morris Airey, director of animal protection services for the Alberta Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the agency assisting in the investigation