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LIVERMORE (CBS 5 / BCN) ― A reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or people who fatally shot two horses and a cow Tuesday or Wednesday in unincorporated Contra Costa and Alameda counties is now up to at least $7,500, the horses' owner Michael Rountree said Friday.

"People keep coming forward with contributions," Rountree said. "There's an awful lot of concern that's come out of the neighbors and the press."

The international animal protection organization In Defense of Animals has also contributed $1,000 to the reward fund.

Contra Costa County sheriff's spokesman Jimmy Lee said Friday that investigators confirmed that the same gun was used to kill all three animals.

The horses were found at about 7:30 a.m. Wednesday in their pasture at 7400 Collier Canyon Road in a remote area of unincorporated Contra Costa County near the Alameda County line, Lee said.

Rountree, who owns the horses with his wife Marianne Rountree, said the first horse "Choctow" was killed on the spot. The second horse, "Lucky" appears to have been shot while he was running away. He made it a quarter of a mile before he died.

A short distance away in unincorporated Alameda County the cow was found fatally shot in the head, Contra Costa County sheriff's Sgt. Paul Beard said.

According to Rountree, the cow was a longhorn yearling heifer that was almost ready to breed.

All three animals were taken to University of California, Davis, where the bullets were removed from their bodies.

Sheriff's investigators had originally thought the animals were shot with a .22 caliber long rifle, which is a low-powered gun used in target practice, but once the bullets were recovered, they discovered the gun, while still a .22 caliber, was a much more powerful weapon.

"This was not a kid's gun," Rountree said.

The recovered bullets were in good condition and Rountree said he believed that if investigators found the gun they would be able to accurately match the bullet to it.

No shell casings or stray bullets were found on the properties, which could mean the shooter was inside a vehicle. The fence is only about 10 feet from the road, Beard said.

One neighbor reported seeing a small car drive off the road into a nearby pasture that night, Rountree said. And although nobody heard the shooting for sure, one neighbor said she heard banging she had thought was a screen door.

"My personal idea about what happened is it was some teenage boys who got hold of dad's rifle and went out thrill-killing," Beard said.

"It's sickening and disgusting, but that's what it looks like."

Rountree said he and his family were "somewhere between sadness and outrage" over the killings and they hoped the sheriff's office would be able to catch whoever is responsible.

Choctow, a 15-year-old tobiano paint horse, led more than a dozen parades and was regularly taken to entertain children at the Shriners Hospital for Children and to participate in a therapeutic riding program for children with disabilities, Rountree said.

"He was 16 hands. A big, stately horse," Rountree said.

The Shriners Hospitals provide care to thousands of children every year with orthopedic conditions, burns, spinal cord injuries, and cleft lip and palate, at no cost to their families.

Lucky had been rescued through the Martinez animal shelter. He was estimated to be between 25 and 27 years old.

"Lucky came out here as an absolute bag of bones and he was so mangy his hair was falling off him in big clumps," Rountree said. "But if you'd seen him the day before yesterday, he was fat, slick, with beautiful hair. He turned out to be an excellent horse, very gentle."

He said normally he put the horses in stables at night, but his plans to build new stables had been held up in the permitting process.

"Trust me, none of my horses will ever stand on that road at night again," Rountree said.

Two other horses were in the pasture during the shooting, but they were not hurt.

Anyone with information about the shootings is asked to call the sheriff's office at (925) 646-2441.

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