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Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA Investigating Reining By The Bay Incident

“If someone comes forward saying they poisoned the horse, or drove the nail into the hoof, or let the horse out, or there is footage showing what happened…those are really the only two ways that we could come to any conclusion,” he said.

As of press time, the PHS/SPCA investigator had not yet contacted Fappani or anyone associated with the horses at the Reining By The Bay event. Delucchi said they are waiting for the toxicology tests to come back. Once the PHS/SPCA gets the results from the veterinarian, the investigation may continue.

“It depends on when he will get the tests back and when they will turn that into us for the investigation,” Delucchi explained. “And blood work may or may not show anything. People watching shows like ‘CSI’ have the assumption that you can draw blood from a horse and there’s a test for every poison in the world, and whatever the animal ingests will pop up on the report. My basic understanding of the blood work is that they test for certain things and when you run a blood panel, you look to see if something is there.

“Poisoning, from what I know, is very, very hard to prove,” he said. “However, even if an easily identifiable poison does show up, we may know a little more, but we still don’t know who did it. Again, unless someone comes forward and said they poisoned the horse, or they have footage that shows someone in the act, it’s difficult to prove.”

If anyone has any information that can help with the investigation, Delucchi urges them to contact the Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA immediately at 650-340-7022, extension 375.

“We hope to learn more and we feel for the owners in this situation,” he said. “When you have a lot of questions that don’t have answers, it’s scary.”

Deputy Rosenblatt, of the San Mateo Sheriff’s Office, indicated they are not investigating the incident. They had received a call, but referred it to the PHS/SPCA.

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