A MAN has been arrested by police in connection with a "savage" attack on a horse.
The black and white traveller's cob was repeatedly slashed with a broken glass.
The five-year-old stallion was stabbed in the shoulder and again in the back leg, with the jagged neck of a broken wine bottle which was left embedded in its flesh.
It had to be destroyed by a vet following the attack, which officers described as one of the most savage they had ever seen.
The incident, which happened at Middlesbrough, occurred just days after the RSPCA revealed the North-East had the UK's highest number of cruelty convictions for the eighth year running.
A Cleveland Police spokeswoman said: " A 40-year-old man has been arrested and released on police bail in connection with causing unnecessary suffering.
"This is in relation to a savage attack on a horse on the morning of May 1, near the Metz Bridge, Middlesbrough, where the horse had been repeatedly stabbed with a broken bottle."
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