A horse was reportedly shot in Wapiti last month, leading to its death, but exactly what happened remains a mystery.

Ranch hands reported the incident on the morning of Aug. 24, after noticing a wound in the horse’s lower knee joint, said Monte McClain, a spokesman for the Park County Sheriff’s Office. At the time, the animal was being kept in a pasture along the Northfork Highway (U.S. Highway 14/16/20W). The horse was ultimately euthanized due to the damage and fractures to its leg bones, McClain said.

Although there was no lead transfer or bullet fragments, McClain said it appeared to be a gunshot wound.

“At this point we believe it was accidental from someone shooting in the vicinity,” he said. “The bullet is just too low on the leg to be deliberate in our opinion.”

Sheriff Darrell Steward said investigators haven’t come up with many leads.

“It could have been a stray round, from somebody just shooting a target [and a] bullet got away from them. Or it could be somebody shooting at road signs in the dark,” Steward said, adding that those are just guesses.

Last month’s shooting in Wapiti followed a similar incident that took place in the Willwood area on June 1, in which a mule was hit in the head by a bullet. That animal — which had been in a pasture along the Shoshone River near a highway — also had to be put down.

“We can conjecture numerous theories on what happened with each case, but with no witnesses it does make it hard to solve,” McClain said.

Anyone with information about either of the shootings can contact the sheriff’s office at 307-527-8700, tips@parkcountysheriff-wy.gov or by submitting an anonymous tip at parkcountysheriff-wy.gov/tip-line.

Prior to this summer, McClain said it had been 13 years since a horse was shot under similar circumstances in Park County, though there have been more recent shootings involving other livestock.