Associated Press
 
June 30, 2009
 
BEND, Ore. -- An Oregon man who shot a horse in the head and left it to die has been sentenced to 90 days in jail and five years probation.
 
Deschutes County Judge Stephen Tiktin also ordered 27-year-old Russell Willeford of Banks to pay more than $9,000 in restitution and forfeit the gun used in the crime. A jury found Willeford guilty of animal abuse last month.
 
The 6-year-old horse was found wandering in the wilderness near Sisters last October, shot in the eye and the temple. It was later discovered that the director of Central Oregon's Camp Tamarack had asked Willeford, then the camp's wrangler, to find it a new home. He shot it instead.
 
The horse lost an eye, but recovered from surgeries and now lives at the Crystal Peaks Youth Ranch in Tumalo.