THE RSPCA is investigating after a dead horse was found on grassland near a York shopping centre.

North Yorkshire Police said officers were called to Monks Cross at 2.40pm yesterday by a member of the public, who reported a horse was lying dead on the ground.

A police spokesman said the caller told the force it appeared the animal’s tether had been so short that it had strangled itself. He said the matter would be investigated by the RSPCA.

The dead horse was tethered to a tree on land near the back of the Asda store.

The horse is one of a number of such animals tethered on grassland in the Monks Cross area.

A man, thought to be the horse’s owner, declined to comment when approached by The Press.

A spokeswoman for the RSPCA said it was investigating allegations that a black and white cob-type mare had died after being tethered to a tree in Jockey Lane, Huntington.

“We cannot say any more at this time, as our investigation is ongoing,” she said.

The woman who reported the matter to police and the RSPCA, who asked not to be identified, said she regularly fed horses tethered on land near Monks Cross and was already upset about their condition before yesterday’s incident.

She said she was shopping at Marks & Spencer when she heard a distraught woman saying one of the horses was dead, and she had gone along with the woman to investigate.

“I was absolutely livid when I saw it,” she said.