What may have been a joke could lead to serious penalties for its source.

Sunday night as Olin Scott and his wife sat at home watching television they heard what was described as a &uot;tapping noise.&uot;

The Scotts believed it was a visitor knocking at the door.

But when they answered the door there was no one there.

What Scott found was one of his cows on its side in the pasture.

Upon further investigation Scott found the cow had been shot several times and the &uot;tapping noise&uot; had been the fatal shots.

Investigators said the cow had been shot possibly as many as five times.

The incident has left the Scott family with many questions.

&uot;We just wonder who could have done something like this,&uot; said Scott. &uot;My wife is beside herself. We just wonder what would make somebody do something like this.&uot;

When sheriff’s investigators arrived Monday they found shell casings for a 9 mm on the road.

However, because of the distance from the road to the cow, it is believed that a rifle and not a pistol was used.

The cow as found around 60 yards from the roadside making a difficult shot with a pistol.

The 1,500 pound Limousine cow, whose value was estimated at $2,600, was a big loss to the Scotts.

The fact that the cow was nursing a calf made it an even bigger loss.

&uot;She had a five month old calf on her side,&uot; said Scott. &uot;We hated to see that too.&uot;

If the shooters were shooting the cow as a joke, the joke is now on them.

By killing the cow the responsible party has committed a felony.

Because rewards are being offered they probably will be caught sooner or later.

A $1,000 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction of the responsible party.

It is expected that the Alabama Cattleman’s Association will also offer some kind of reward.

Scott just wants to make sure that this does not become a common occurrence.

&uot;We just want to make sure that this does not happen to anyone else,&uot; said Scott. &uot;We want to make sure that this doesn’t become a trend.&uot;

Next up for the Scotts will be matching the bullets to the casing.

The Scotts have the choice of having the cow taken to a lab in Elba to have it analyzed or having a local vet remove the bullets at a cost to them.

Either way the retraction of the bullets will be very important to the case.

&uot;They said that once they get the bullets if they can match it to the casings it will help build a better case,&uot; said Scott. &uot;We are willing to do whatever brings this to an end.&uot;