MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Deep in the back of a large, muddy lot in South Dade, property owners show where Miami-Dade police found upwards of 6,000 pounds of marijuana and a rifle.
Officers from the county’s agricultural patrol unit stumbled upon this when they were on the property looking for a horse, Chicho, who had been stolen from a nearby farm.
Chicho was reunited with his thankful owner Raul Ramos on Wednesday.
Police also found another horse that Laurie Waggoner of the South Florida Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals named Jolly. Waggoner says he has an injured foot and matted mane.
“We would like to know to find out who owned him if he was a stolen horse,” she said.
Miami-Dade police say the owners of the property where the horses and drugs were found cooperated immediately, letting them in without hesitation.
The property owners tell Local 10 News that various people rent space on the large parcel of land to store items like trailers. They have no idea how two horses and the mountain of marijuana ended up there.
Waggoner says there are incidents of thieves who snatch horses to feed an underground black market of horse meat.
“Just the week before they found two carcasses from recently slaughtered horses,” she said. “If you see something, say something. People diving in a truck and leading the horse behind the truck, if you see something like that, call 911 immediately.
“Let’s try to get these horses returned to owners before they actually end up butchered.”
If no one claims Jolly, he will go up for adoption, the SPCA says.
Police say it remains an open investigation.