PHOTO PROVIDED Romeo, a 19-year-old horse belonging to a Picture Rocks resident, was discovered shot—but alive—whenTedBaker was notified by his neighbor that something was wrong with his horse. It is the second shooting occuring the last seven months in the area. Anyone with information about the two cases should contact Pennsylvania State Police at 570.368.5700.

MILL CREEK TOWNSHIP- Ted Baker rushed home from work on Friday, Jan. 3 after his neighbor called to inform him his horse, Romeo, had been hurt at Baker’s Woodley Hollow Road home.

When Baker arrived home, he found the 19-year-old horse in a pool of blood, with both hind legs pierced by a bullet. “It was a shock,” Baker said. Romeo was still alive when Baker called his veterinarian, who euthanized the animal.

“I’ve had Romeo since he was 6 months old,” Baker said. “He wasn’t just a horse or just a pet, I referred to him as a friend.”

Baker added that state police deemed the incident as “intentional” due to the location of the animal in the pasture and that the fatal shot came from a high-powered rifle. The investigation remains ongoing and there is currently no person of interest.

The Lycoming County resident is offering a $2,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the individual who shot Romeo, in a field on his property in the Pennsdale area.

Baker, who was in Minersville at the time, said he knows the approximate time of the shooting because a neighbor saw the quarter horse standing about 8 o’clock in the morning. A half-hour later the neighbor saw Romeo down and unable to get up, he said.

A second horse, Rena, a 25-year-old mare, also was in the field but was not shot, Baker said. “They were like my pets,” he said about the horses. “They were living out their retirements. They were more like big dogs.”

Last summer The Luminary published a story about a similar incident in the Hughesville area. In that report, a beloved pony named Bo and owned by Jesse Snyder, was discovered shot to death. No arrests were made in that incident.

“There’s a bad individual out there,” Baker added. “I didn’t want to sit back and not say anything. We need to be vigilant.”