Sickening footage shows moment cowboys allegedly shoot dead four horses on remote California ranch

Cops in Merced County are looking into a stomach-turning video of horses being killed by gunshots in Atwater that has animal lovers furious.

Shocking bodycam footage from 2025 has blown the lid off a gruesome incident at the ranch of Don Gatz, a California horse trader with a history of animal cruelty.

The Merced County Animal Control Officers were responding to the reports of five emaciated horses when Gatz’s veterinarian advised that four horses be euthanized by gunshots. 

“We can drop them over there and boom, boom boom,” the vet could be heard saying on the bodycam footage shared by Animals’ Angels USA, a Maryland-based animal welfare organization. 

Several people commented on the social media post with concerns about the process. “This video is very disturbing and cruel,” read one comment.

“That’s the worst I’ve seen. We have euthanized horses both chemically and by gunshot hundreds of times over the past 40 years and this was so badly done,” another use wrote.

The horses were shot from a closed distance and did not even have the dignity of a quick death. “This one… still has a heartbeat,” said one of the officers several minutes after the shooting, as heard on the body cam footage. 

In a heartless display of incompetence, officials reportedly ignored protocol which requires immediate verification and waited for more than 25 minutes after the shooting to confirm if the horses had died. One poor steed had reflexes even after 40 minutes of being shot. 

“I am sorry I had to shoot it so many times,” one of Gatz’s workers admitted to the brutality of pumping 5-6 bullets into a single horse.

The sheriff’s office confirmed that veterinary professionals and Animal Services staff were present during the incident.

Now the police are “reviewing the circumstances surrounding the incident, including applicable best practices, ethical considerations, and accepted industry standards,” the sheriff’s office said in on social media post. 

Gatz was sentenced to 60 days and fined $14,000 in 2011 after 15 or the thirty horses on his property required immediate euthanasia and suffered from Strangles infection.

Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters