The Humane Society of Utah today learned that misdemeanor charges have been filed against three individuals who were allegedly responsible for the stomping death of a pheasant on the playing field of American Fork High School during a recent football game between that school’s team and the Viewmont Vikings.

On the last morning of September, a Washington County rancher went to his corral to feed his two horses, both of whom had been in excellent condition the night before, and found one of them dead — riddled with almost 50 shots from a small-caliber gun. The Humane Society of Utah immediately responded to the grisly news with outrage, specifically because all the wounds were inflicted in the animal’s abdomen and back. "This horse died a slow, agonizing death," said HSU Executive Director Gene Baierschmidt. "The animal’s owner feels that the shots were purposely directed to these vulnerable areas to guarantee a great deal of suffering for the horse, ‘almost like a vendetta killing,’ in his own words."