PARIS -- Armed with knives, some knowledge of their prey and a large dose of cruelty, attackers are going after horses and ponies in pastures across France in what may be ritual mutilations.
Police are stymied by the macabre attacks that include slashings and worse.
Most often, an ear, usually the right one, has been cut off, recalling the matador’s trophy in a bullring.
Agriculture Minister Julien Denormandie says there have been up to 30 attacks scattered from eastern France to the west.
Many occurred this summer, but one was registered in February.
Yet the mystery only grows.
