Humans not involved in death of wild stallion in Yukon's Ibex Valley, investigation concludes

There is no evidence of human involvement in the death of a wild stallion in the Ibex Valley, says the Yukon government's animal protection and control officer. 

Amber Elliott says the cause of death is unknown but there is no indication that humans killed the horse. 

"There was heavy scavenging or feeding by predators, which were wolves, but we don't know what killed this horse," Elliott said. "It could have been compromised and maybe wolves did kill it. It could have been human involvement that we're not able to find evidence of. It could have been colic and he died in the field and was scavenged." 

The Yukon government's agriculture branch first received a report about a dead horse in the Ibex Valley on Jan. 29. Wild horses in the territory cannot be injured or killed without a government issued permit, as per the amended Animal Protection and Control Act. 

The report about the dead animal came from the Friends of the Yukon Wild Horses Society. The group keeps track of nearly two dozen wild horses in the Ibex Valley with trail cams and documents observations with photos and videos shared on its Facebook page. 

The society used a drone to find what they believed to be the remains of a stallion named Scout. They discovered the remains in a field in the Stony Creek area on Jan. 28 and said they believed that Scout had been shot and harvested for meat. In years past, the group had discovered remains of other wild horses in the same area, who they believe were shot and killed.

Elliott says the images she received from the society and evidence collected during a site visit did not indicate that humans were involved in the animal's death. 

"The thing that to me suggests that people were not involved is the fact that there were still limbs on site — the meat was not quartered and taken away," Elliott said. "On the skeleton, I did not see any holes in the bones that could indicate bullets. I didn't see any suspicious breaks of bones."

The Wild Horses Society also reported that there were snowmobile tracks leading away from the site, but Elliott says conversations with land owners suggest that the tracks were there for other reasons. 

Elliot and her team visited the site five days after receiving the initial report. She says they were required to wait for permission from the land owners before they could inspect the site.

"The decision was made to approach this cautiously, partially due to the amount of attention that it was getting over social media, to ensure that we were doing everything lawfully."

Elliott acknowledged her conclusion may be difficult for those who are invested in the Ibex Valley wild horses. 

"I understand that it might not be what some people were hoping to hear, but we have to operate on facts," Elliott said. "And the facts in this circumstance were minimal."