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| - France's agriculture minister vowed on Friday that those behind a baffling spate of mutilations of horses and other animals across the country, not all of them fatal, will be brought to justice. More than 30 animals have been found dismembered in different parts of France in recent months, Julien Denormandie said on a visit to stables in Saint Eusebe village in central France, where a horse's ear was recently cut off. "We are here to show that all branches of the state are mobilising to get justice done," Denormandie said. Most recently, a mare was found dead this week near eastern city Lyon with a fractured skull and part of its muzzle slashed. "There is clearly a professionalism, people acting with a certain level of technique," the minister added. Stable owner Thomas Desgres, said he found his mare in her box with a slashed ear late Tuesday night. "Now, I sleep here. I patrol every half-hour. It's tiring," he told Denormandie. Also this week, the head of a horse-riding centre came across two attackers as they were mutilating horses in the Burgundy region, known for its wine. He was able to give a description of one of the assailants to the police, who have called for witnesses to come forward. Last week, a mare was discovered disembowelled in south-eastern France next to a pony with a ripped ear. "It is cruel savagery of a kind we have rarely seen before," the president of the French Equestrian Federation Serge Lecomte, who accompanied the minister, told AFP. "Is it a cult? Cruelty towards animals is the precursor to cruelty towards humans," he added. The minister said all possible motives were being investigated. Ponies and donkeys have also been targeted in spate of attacks by criminals taking body parts such as ears, eyes, pieces of bone or parts of the nose. lv-ech/mlr/tgb
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