GREENSBURG — State police are trying to find the people who used a piece of farm machinery to impale an Angus cow and then left the animal to die on a farm.

Police in Westmoreland County say the incident occurred between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. Feb. 12 at a Hempfield Township farm.

Trooper Stephen Limani called the perpetrator “extremely cruel.” He said Monday that the person also had to know how to work a hydraulic lift that was on the farm tractor.

Limani said investigators believe the cow was impaled by the tractor’s two forks.