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HIALEAH (CBSMiami) – A woman feeding stray dogs in a remote area of northwest Miami-Dade stumbled onto to the scene of a horrific horse slaughter.

Animal cruelty investigator Rachel Taylor said they found dozens of horses, or their parts, in various stages of decomposition in the area of 179th Street and 129th Avenue. All of the legs had been stripped of their meat. She said it looks like the animals were killed elsewhere and dumped here.

“You’ve got horse hooves, bones, hips, these have obviously been here for a long time,” she said pointing to an area under some trees.

Taylor, who works for the non-profit Animal Recovery Mission, said from the looks of it, the most recent kill was just a day or two ago. But that wasn’t the worst of it.

She said they found, a short walk up the road, more dead horse remains, almost all of them next to feed bags.

Taylor said it’s not uncommon to find animal remains in this area near US 27 and the county line.

“We’ve currently done about 20 investigations of horse slaughter here before today,” Taylor said.

Miami-Dade Police combed the scene Wednesday looking for clues.

Taylor believes some of the horses are being killed for rituals and sacrifices, like in a photo she took showing a pot with horseshoes and other items with a horse head nearby.

Taylor is horrified by the extent of the killings.

“It’s bad,” Taylor said. “I think more attention needs to be put on this. It needs to be blasted out there. People can’t get away with this.”

Taylor suspects the horses were stolen, she said this is one of the worst cases she’s ever seen.

“They’re in every couple of feet, it’s like this whole area is a graveyard,” she said, “That’s what’s alarming to me.”