In the quiet pre-dawn hours of March 18, a mounted patrol horse belonging to the City of Atlanta was found roaming outside its stable confines, an incident that police believe was sparked by vandalism.
Officers from Zone 6 were dispatched to Cherokee Ave SE at about 3:50 a.m., after an animal call was made. They encountered the horse, part of the city's Mounted Patrol Unit, lost and astray far from its usual territory. A member of the mounted patrol arrived shortly thereafter to take charge of the situation, and the incident seemed closed with the horse's safe return to its stable; however, a discovered breach in the stable's perimeter suggested a deliberate act of mischief, raising questions and concerns about city animal security.
Initial reports from the Atlanta Police Department indicate that the hole in the fence was not the result of wear or an animal's doing, but rather appeared to be cut by someone, intentionally paving a path for the horse's escape. "Preliminary Information suggests an individual cut the hole in the fence, allowing the horse to escape," disclosed a statement from the Atlanta PD.
This breach, and the subsequent escape, have prompted an active investigation by Atlanta investigators, intent on getting to the bottom of the incident. Details are still forthcoming, but the puzzle pieces suggest a troublemaker at large, capable of disrupting even Atlanta's Mounted Patrol – the details of which they are now piecing together. The investigation into the events of March 18 continues, with authorities piecing together how the steed came to wander the streets unsupervised.
