MAPLE VALLEY, Wash. — A horse previously believed to be shot and killed was likely killed by a kick from a fellow pasture mate, a necropsy found.
Buttercup the mini horse was found dead on Monday, Feb. 26 in the Maple Valley area of unincorporated King County. At the time, a wound on the horse's skull was thought to be a gunshot wound. But a necropsy found no evidence of intentional harm from a human, the King County Sheriff's Office said in a release.
A necropsy performed by a veterinarian and witnessed by a King County Sheriff deputy found the cause of Buttercup's death to be blunt force trauma. X-rays done of the horse's head, neck and abdomen found no evidence of a bullet.
The necropsy determined that the shape of the wound on Buttercup's skull was similar in shape to a horse's hoof. Authorities believe another horse in the pen kicked Buttercup in the head, resulting in her death.
Buttercup's loss was especially felt by another horse in the pasture her owner Stevie Jacobson said. Miniature horse Peanut is blind in one eye and often depended on Buttercup.
"She would just kind of follow Buttercup around and be like, 'Okay, where are you going? I better go there,'" said Jacobson.
At the time of Buttercup's death, tensions were heightened due to the fatal shooting of a horse in Pierce County just a few weeks prior.