Someone slaughtered an Arkansas family’s miniature horses, donkeys and other animals

An Arkansas family said they are distraught after finding most of their animals slaughtered in their pens.

“When you show up at the pen to check on them in the the morning time and every one of them that you got is laying in the pen dead, from some type of wound — we all cried,” William Wiggins told Arkansas Matters.

Wiggins said he and his daughters raised the animals — including miniature horses, miniature donkeys, goats, an alpaca and a calf, according to authorities and local media.

A single goat survived but was injured.

“Everybody knows how much they love their dogs and cats,” Wiggins said. “Well can you imagine losing a whole herd of them at one time?”

The Woodruff County Sheriff’s Department announced that the animals were killed sometime overnight on Dec. 28 or Dec. 29 on the Wiggins’ property, northeast of Little Rock.

Sheriff Phil Reynolds called it a “heinous act.”

“Whoever done this cowardly act to anything so innocent that’s kept in captivity,” Reynolds said, according to Fox4, “...they will be punished.”

On Tuesday, the Wiggins Reward Fund will begin accepting donations at Merchant and Planters Bank in McCrory.

In comments, many expressed disbelief after learning of the crime.

“This is a cowardly act and sickness,” Eva Kyle wrote. “It happened here in Woodruff County where many of us live and raise our families. It may not stop here.”

This story was originally published January 2, 2018 at 9:00 AM with the headline "Someone slaughtered an Arkansas family’s miniature horses, donkeys and other animals."