Man charged with shooting wild horse in Utah

Monday, April 24, 2000 | 4:45 a.m.

Kevin M. Binks, 32, was arrested Monday in Nephi and charged with two counts of violating the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, which protects wild horses.

Investigators allege that Binks shot a well-known gray stallion - easily recognizable because he had only one ear - last September in the Swasey Mountain area about 30 miles west of Delta.

The horse struggled for about 40 hours, trying to pull himself onto his paralyzed hind legs, according to the Bureau of Land Management. Investigators said the horse's thrashing against the ground beat an eight-inch hole into its head.

A BLM ranger eventually found and killed the traumatized horse.

"On or about September 25, 1999 ... Binks did willfully and maliciously injure, treat inhumanely, and cause the death of a wild horse," reads a federal grand jury indictment unsealed Monday.

"It is hard to imagine what goes on in a person's mind to formulate such a plan," BLM special agent Keith Keller said at the time.

The stallion had become a rangeland celebrity 10 years earlier after surviving a round of mustanging, a sport in which a wild horse is captured and maimed. The practice is illegal.

The horse lost an ear but won the hearts of residents in Delta, 104 miles south of Salt Lake City, who made regular visits to its wild pasture.

Binks is also charged with possessing and firing guns twice - which he is barred from doing because of a previous felony conviction.

The indictment also accuses Binks of lying to the grand jury and to a federal agent investigating the case for the BLM.

Binks, who is scheduled to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald N. Boyce on Tuesday, faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each of the two firearm charges and five years on each of six charges of making false statements.

The two violations of the horses law carry a maximum of one year in prison and a $100,000 fine.