MARACAY, Venezuela -- Rafael Toro, a student at Venezuela's top veterinary school, suspected something was amiss when a beloved horse called Miss Congeniality didn't greet him at the fence one recent morning along with others in the campus' small herd.

The bright-eyed, bay-colored mare had earned her nickname for helping disabled students overcome their fear of riding horses. They say she was smart and even trotted up when you called her name.

To his shock, Toro discovered the horse's skin and dismembered bones hidden among trees in the corner pasture of the sprawling campus in the central Venezuelan city of Maracay. Thieves overnight had hopped the fence, slaughtered the horse and made off with her meat - either to sell or to feed their hungry families.

Get Breaking News Delivered toturned their attention to slaughtering horses and cattle vital to training the South American nation's next generation of veterinarians.

The meat from a full-grown horse could fetch roughly $1,400 at market, based on the equivalent prices of Venezuelan beef, making it a lucrative venture in a country where a worker's monthly minimum wage is under $10 at the widely-used black market rate.

Months before Miss Congeniality's demise, crooks slaughtered two horses donated to the university and that were temporarily quarantined at a nearby pasture, Toro said. Since late 2016, seven cows - including a prized bull at the center of the school's breeding program - have fallen prey to overnight bandits sneaking onto campus.

"A loss like that is pretty expensive," said professor Daniel Vargas, who oversees the university's cattle program.

Venezuelans