NIAGARA FALLS, Ont. – A Niagara Falls man faces animal cruelty charges after a horse’s head was cut off in what police say may have been a “gruesome and ill-conceived prank.”

Niagara regional police say the severed head was discovered Wednesday morning in the rear bed of a pickup truck that had been parked overnight in a driveway.

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Investigators aided by the Humane Society found a dismembered horse carcass on a farm in rural Niagara Falls on Thursday.

A man who was at the farm is accused of killing the horse and placing the head in the pickup truck. It’s alleged he’s an acquaintance of the farm’s owner and the truck owner.

Darrell Mowatt, 28, of Niagara Falls, has been charged with breaking, entering and killing cattle, wilfully causing unnecessary pain and suffering to an animal and mischief under $5,000.

Mowatt was held pending a bail hearing today.