A Riverside County man was arrested on charges of felony animal cruelty after police say he bludgeoned his horse with a sledgehammer, decapitated it with a chain saw and fed it to his dogs.
Jack Ziniuk, 64, of rural Anza called authorities Sunday morning to say his horse had been injured by dogs, was having seizures and needed to be put down, Riverside County Sheriff's Sgt. Bill Roach said.
But when officers arrived they found a headless horse. A bloody sledgehammer was submerged in a bucket of water and a chain saw sat nearby. The animal's head was lying in a dog run where Roach said it was serving as food for Ziniuk's dogs.
"He told us he was having an argument with his neighbors and some dogs had attacked his horse, but when deputies got out there they found the horse already dead," Roach said. "He essentially admitted that he did it and that no dogs had attacked the horse."
