CHELAN COUNTY - The Chelan County Sheriff's office says it has "persons of interest" in the poisoning of two Clydesdale horses and the attempting poisoning of a donkey.

It is just the latest in a series of equine deaths that began in October 2006.

There are turkeys, goats, chickens and ducks at the Banjo Creek Farm. It's hard to find a horse or donkey.

In the past 11 months, someone has killed five of them apparently with rat poison.

Harold Jennings says he found all five, beginning with a donkey last year. At that time he said no one suspected anything.

But now with the total reaching five, Jennings called the sheriff's office and the Humane Society.

Greg Kennedy runs the farm and can't believe what's happening. He saw the Clydesdales Sunday morning.

"They were very dead. They were cold," he said. "We found them in the morning and it was a very heart-wrenching event. A lot of tears were shed, it was awful."

An autopsy showed their stomachs were full of rat poison.

A donkey, Chico, is in a new area. He ate what the Clydesdales didn't. A vet gave him a vitamin K shot, and he survived.

A miniature horse, Cooper, is a survivor too. Farm operators say he was last on the food chain and there may have been no rat poison for him to eat.

"He was lucky," Kennedy said.

The loss of the two Clydesdales is bad. But last March, two zonkeys (zebra, donkey mixes) were poisoned. Last November, a donkey was killed.

When we asked Jennings what he would like to do to whoever is responsible, he said: "I'd hang them by the whatever's."

The farm is adding security cameras. In the meantime, Kennedy said: "until whoever is responsible is caught, we are not buying any more horses, zonkeys or ponies."