A sudden boom, a panicked animal, and a heartbroken family.
At around 9 p.m. Tuesday night, Sharon Michelucci says her show horses were panicked by the loud boom of a firework.
“It wasn’t one of those safe and sane ones that you get from the little stands. It was pretty big. It lit up the whole property,” Michelucci said.
She says her horses began frantically running and jumping. They took their three-month-old foal, Rosie, to the vet after the scare caused her to run into a pipe fence and drop to the ground.
“She had broken her neck in multiple places. The only thing we could do was what was the humane thing to do is, to put her down. The vet said we couldn't even make her a horse. She couldn't even be a pasture horse, let alone a reined cow horse,” Michelucci said.
According to Michelucci, Rosie’s mother, Jackie, has been visibly mourning the loss of her baby.
“She paced back and forth for 12 hours and she exhausted herself," she said. "I've been giving her ulcer medicine because her stomach's turning and she's worried."
Michelucci and her husband, Mike Prowse, say their tragic loss could have been prevented if people thought twice before using illegal fireworks.
“I hate to think that people do this without thinking about the ramifications," Prowse said. "Especially in an ag area. We worry about our animals. We worry about fire out here. We're lucky the fields right now have been plowed, but two weeks ago they weren't and it can wipe out an entire area.”
Zach Nichols is a CAL FIRE Battalion Chief with law enforcement and investigations. He says they are investigating the incident and remind people that firework fines start at $2,000 and could lead to felony charges depending on the amount in possession.
“State of California deems those animals as property, and that is a pretty high dollar loss," he said. "Things like this [are] tragic. You have the life of an animal that had a very promising career."
“There’s a lot of things we can do to enjoy our freedoms but that’s one that we really need to curtail. It has so many ramifications that people just don’t think about,” Prowse said.
Nichols asks anyone with information about this week’s incident in Paso Robles to contact the San Luis Obispo County CAL FIRE headquarters at (805) 543-4244.
