Over a dozen horses that escaped their home farms in western Manitoba in the past two days are dead in a series of collisions.
In the first incidents, RCMP were called on Monday evening to a report of horses loose and being hit by trucks on the Trans-Canada Highway west of Hargrave, about 30 km east of the Saskatchewan border.
RCMP found 17 horses had been at large, of which four were killed in semi-trailer traffic on the highway, another six were killed by a passing train and another was injured and taken to a veterinarian.
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The Canadian Pacific Railway mainline runs parallel to Highway 1 in the Hargrave area.
The remaining horses were located and rounded up, RCMP said, noting the owner of the horses was already in the area and “making efforts to locate his horses.”
“How the horses came to be at large at this time is unclear,” RCMP said.
In the second set of incidents, Boissevain RCMP were called to the scene of three separate collisions just after 6 a.m. Wednesday morning on Highway 10 south of Boissevain.
Three horses were killed and two people treated for “undetermined injuries” in the three crashes.
Nine other horses were located and returned to their owner, a “local area individual.”
Boissevain RCMP also gave no specific reason for the horses running loose on the highway.
