Snowmobilers Implicated in Shooting Death of Man's Cow

Fluffy the cow was supposed to give birth to a calf in May, Central Maine reports. Instead Clayton Tibbetts found her dead in a field on his Maine farm last week. "They shot her between the eyes," he says. "It had to have been at close range." Fluffy's body was found less than 30 feet from a snowmobile trail that runs through Tibbetts' property. He closed the trail to the public in response to the shooting. "I shut the trail off because I’d like to find out who did it,” he says. “We haven’t found out if it was a snowmobiler yet, but it came from that direction." The trail is maintained by the Abnaki Sno Riders club. “We’re upset with the whole situation as far as someone utilizing the snowmobile trails to commit this horrendous crime, to take out an innocent animal who wasn’t doing any harm,” club president Penny Hay says.

Tibbetts, who raises beef, puts the financial loss from Fluffy's death at $2,000, not including the loss of her calf. Abnaki Sno Riders secretary LeeAnne Newton, who calls the shooting "disturbing," says the club has "been discussing having a spaghetti supper to raise money toward the loss of his cows.” She says the club works "really hard to keep our landowners happy." The club has warned that anyone found using the trail for the rest of the season will be guilty of trespassing. An investigation into the shooting is continuing, but authorities say it isn't related to the mysterious fatal shooting of a pregnant goat on a farm 100 miles to the south, the Bangor Daily News reports. The goat, Ava, was found dead three days after Fluffy. Authorities say it's unusual to find one farm animal dead from an intentional gunshot, let alone two. (More animal cruelty stories.)