*Warning. This video contains material that some may find disturbing due to the graphic nature.
Investigators call it taking animal cruelty to a whole new level.
They say someone impaled a cow using a tractor equipped with sharp steel forks.
As Russ Guidotti reports from Hempfield Township, Pennsylvania, the perpetrators are still on the run.
What State Police say someone did to one of the cows on this Hempfield Township farm takes animal cruelty to a new level.
“It’s unthinkable,” said State Trooper Stephen Limani.
Investigators say someone in the pre-dawn hours got behind the wheel of a tractor and drove around the property damaging it, then headed toward the herd.
Extending from front of the tractor, these 4-foot-long solid steel forks.
One animal couldn’t get out of the way in time.
“It appears the animal was impaled and left there to die,” said Trooper Limani
The apparent crime was certainly cruel, but also costly to the herd’s owner.
“That cow is worth $1,000,” said Trooper Limani.
Troopers say the person driving the tractor wasn’t alone.
“The landowner heard the noise, the tractor running and had seen the bailer traveling down the road and a pickup truck following behind it,” said Trooper Limani.
Investigators say the pickup driver could also be in very big trouble.
“If you are involved in a crime and you are the getaway driver, so to speak, you have the ability to be charged with conspiracy to commit a crime, which can carry the same punishment as who committed the crime,” said Trooper Limani.
And while it’s true these are beef cattle that will all will eventually be ending up as food, the person who impaled the animal had no right to do so.
What’s more:
“Absolutely cruel!” said Trooper Limani. He went on to say, “To think you’d take an animal in the middle of the night and just impale it with the forks of a tractor is just unthinkable.”
Investigators say the perpetrator probably had experience operating a tractor.
Police are asking anyone who may know who is behind this act to call them.
