Six more horses shot dead in Kentucky; total reaches 21

Six more horses have been found shot and killed in Floyd County, Kentucky, bringing the total number of dead horses to 21, authorities and local rescue advocates confirmed Monday.

According to Dumas Rescue, the half a dozen horses most recently killed were located near a strip-mining site in the eastern portion of the state, the Louisville Courier-Journal.

Members of the rescue group told the Courier-Journal the most recent victims' injuries appear to have been killed during the same timeframe as 15 others found last week along U.S. Highway 23.

"This is very inhumane, and it's a very cruel act of somebody who just apparently had nothing else to do or whatever, just to go back on a strip job and shoot down horses who were, one of them obviously was feeding, had grass in its mouth," Floyd County Sheriff John Hunt told WYMT, adding, "It looked like a battlefield for just horses."

According to CNN, the activity began December 16 when a resident called 911 because some of his horses broke out of a fenced area. The caller later found his horses shot to death.

Dumas Rescue is offering a $20,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest of those responsible, the network reported