A necropsy on a horse that died after it was attacked by dogs in Waialua could not determine a cause of death, and state officials will conduct further tissue studies, a state Department of Agriculture spokeswoman said Wednesday.
Janelle Saneishi, Agriculture Department spokeswoman, said the necropsy was done on the 3-year-old filly on Tuesday.
"There was no obvious cause of death," she said.
She said state veterinarians were called to assist a private veterinarian to try to find the cause of death and will do tissue tests to determine whether a pre-existing condition may have killed the horse.
Police said the incident happened at about 9:20 p.m. Monday.
A witness heard barking and saw the dogs attacking a horse at Dillingham Ranch. When officers arrived, several dogs were still there and were picked up by the Hawaiian Humane Society.
Police said dog collars were found with GPS devices and other information etched into them.
Dr. Manuel Himenes, a private veterinarian who helped investigate the horse’s death, said there was a perfectly circular wound to the horse’s forehead that some thought was a bullet hole.
"It would be where you would shoot a horse if you were trying to kill it," he said. "Some people assumed that that’s what had happened. When I saw it, it looked suspicious to be that."
After peeling the skin away, Himenes couldn’t find a bullet hole in the skull and found the horse’s brain still intact. He said the wound may have come from the dogs or the horse hitting her head on a fence.
The examination found the horse had at least 10 cuts, and the skin had been peeled from its upper right front leg, exposing the muscles, but there were no indications that the animal bled to death, Himenes said. The horse also had facial wounds and cuts on the lower part of its chest.
"There were a lot of injuries to the horse, but nothing that I could point to and say this would have killed it," he said.
Himenes removed the brain and turned it over to the state veterinarians, who will study the tissue for clues to the cause of death. He said their test results could take about a week to come back.
Tasha Tanimoto, Humane Society spokeswoman, said she could not disclose how many dogs were recovered because that information is part of the ongoing investigation. She said the Humane Society will hold the dogs until the investigation is complete.
