A yearling colt was one of three horses found dead near Sundre in April 2009. (Courtesy Wild Horses of Alberta Society)

Two men and a teenager have been charged with shooting a wild horse in southern Alberta.

Jason Nixon, 29, Earl Anderson, 40, and a 13-year-old boy, who cannot be named because of the Youth Criminal Justice Act, face one criminal charge each of willfully killing a horse and careless use of a firearm.

Mustard Seed, a well known Calgary social agency, has confirmed in a statement that the two men are associated with its Mountain Aire Lodge near Sundre.

RCMP in Sundre announced charges against the trio on Wednesday.

Although police have been investigating the shooting deaths of wild horses in the Sundre area since 2007, the three are only charged in the death of one horse.

"We believe that there is a group of individuals that are doing these shooting of horses," said Sgt. Patrick Webb of the RCMP.

"These particular sets of charges are only dealing with one single incident of that. But we are certainly investigating all the other ones at the same time," he said. "All of these horses are wild horses, which for one reason or another are available or released into the area that's west of Sundre."

The horse was killed sometime between May and October of 2009, Webb said.

The Wild Horses of Alberta Society is relieved to hear about the arrests.

"This has been ongoing for a long, long time," said spokesman Bob Henderson.

"Since our group has been formed, there has been over 30 killings or around 30 killings that we know about, and it's also gone on long before that. So whether they've caught everybody, I don't think so, but at least there's some progress being made," he said.

Arrests welcomed

The RCMP and Fish and Wildlife officials are also pleased to have made some arrests, Webb said.

"The shooting of these horses has been going on since about 2007 and the RCMP members and the Fish and Wildlife member there are very satisfied to get this one particular charge and hopefully additional charges in these crimes."

All three of the people charged are from the Sundre area and will be in court on March 1. Charges are pending against another man from the Calgary area, police said.

Nixon is also charged with assaulting a witness to a wildlife infraction and uttering threats to a fish and wildlife officer, according to police.

$25,000 reward offered for tips

More than 22 wild horses have been killed in Alberta over the last four years — most of them in the Sundre area.

Despite a $25,000 reward from the Wild Horses of Alberta Society, this is the first time police have laid charges in connection with the death of a wild horse.

The Alberta government estimates there are about 300 feral horses in the Sundre area. Provincial biologists don't consider them true wildlife because they originated from domestic horses used in logging and mining operations in the early 1900s.

Horses were often turned loose or escaped, leading to several generations of offspring that still live in the area. In recent decades, some feral horses have been abandoned by their owners.

Anyone convicted of killing cattle or feral horses faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison under Canada's Criminal Code.