Volgograd horse club owner complains of police silence over acid attacks

Yaroslava Petrenko, one of the owners of the horse club «By the Lake» in Volzhsk, fears that the criminal case on the acid poisoning of horses may be closed, and the perpetrator will go unpunished.

According to her, law enforcement agencies do not inform the owners about the progress of the investigation, and only after persistent appeals to the police do they provide any information.

The condition of the injured horses is now stable, but one of the horses, which had acid poured on its side, still has unhealed wounds.

«All the horses are in stable, good condition. The only issue: one horse not only had acid splashed into its mouth but also poured on its side, and we are still struggling with the wounds on its side. The healing process after this filth is very difficult, but it»s okay — the horse is stable, the horse eats, drinks, receives all necessary treatment,« said Yaroslava.

The incidents began in April, when the perpetrator killed two horses — Sultan and Lavr, by injecting them. The club owners know the identity of this person but do not disclose it.

In December, the same person broke into the stable and poured acid into the horses« mouths. The police detained a suspect in the April case, but after verification released him with a promise to appear.

The investigation into the April incident continues, but regarding the December acid poisoning case, according to Petrenko, there has been a lull. She noted that on January 12, the case was transferred to the main department for Volzhsk, but since then no information has been received.

«As for the case that happened not long ago — the acid poisoning of horses... There has been some lull,» admitted Yaroslava. «For some reason, law enforcement officers are starting to avoid me, Kristina, again. Not so much avoid, but rather not keep us informed. Only because I persistently called and knocked, I was notified on January 12 about the transfer of the case to the main department for our city. And that»s it. I don«t know anything more about this case. No one has handed me a resolution on initiating a criminal case, no one contacts me, no one informs about the progress of the investigation. We will, of course, start knocking on doors again, but we would like some more respectful attitude towards our situation.»

To protect the animals, security measures have been taken at the club, the details of which are not yet disclosed. Yaroslava believes that the perpetrator aims to shamefully close the club and hopes for help from law enforcement agencies.

«Only people in a very close circle essentially know all these internal details. A bit later, I will show what we have done visually, just now I don»t want to list. Those who come to us see for themselves how the work is going. Because we understand that apparently no one wants to protect us except ourselves. We fully understand that the person is achieving that we close down in disgrace. On one hand, why should we run from him? Why the person remains unpunished for his malicious deeds, we don«t understand. We would like protection not only from us but also from law enforcement agencies precisely because the impunity of this person pushes him to even more malicious deeds. What might pop into his head next time — we are even afraid to think,» stated the owner.