Mar 9, 2011 – 7:15 AM
Chris Epting
Contributor
It's a weird, gruesome mystery that has all the local wildlife experts in "Surf City, USA" scratching their heads. In the past three weeks, almost 30 birds have been found in Huntington Beach, Calif., all with an almost identical signature injury: a devastatingly shattered right wing.
Debbie McGuire, wildlife director at the well-respected and well-known Wetlands & Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach, where the birds have been brought when found by the public, says she's never seen anything quite like it.
"It almost seems ritualistic, even cultish," she told AOL News. "In just about every case the right wing has been brutally broken and all but one of the birds has had to be euthanized. We have no idea what's going on.
"If it's occurring at sea, there could be many more that die before they get to shore. Still, we've seen many sea gulls, a pelican, a cormorant, a crow -- it's bizarre. All being left for dead after having their right wing broken. This is the work of a monster."
Greg Hickman, the center's director, agrees that it's one of the strangest, most disturbing things he's ever seen.
"It's as much a sickening mystery to us as it is to everyone else," he told AOL News. "Nearly identical compound fractures of the right wing. So severely injured, there's almost nothing we can do for them. None of this makes sense. They're not net injuries that you might see from a fishing boat. This is a blunt and twisting force that seems very deliberate. Horrible, strange crimes like we've never seen before."
And true crimes they are. Seagulls are protected by both state and federal laws. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, people who injure them can face a maximum of six months in jail or a $15,000 fine.
Hickman added that the local Fish and Game Department and all other relevant agencies were notified but have not been able to figure out how the deadly damages are being inflicted or by whom. The luckiest break would be for a witness to capture one of the attacks as it happens, photographically.
Kelly Beavers, a wildlife technician at the center, was the first to recognize a pattern. After noticing a recurrence in similar right wing injuries, she notified Hickman, her boss.
She told AOL News, "I said to him, 'This is not normal. Something very strange is happening here. This pattern seems to represent a sort of craziness.' "
Describing the severity of the injuries, Beavers added, "The radial, ulna and humerus bones are cleanly and completely torn apart in almost all cases. Ripped wide open, an open wound with shattered, fragmented bone. The birds, when they get brought here, are completely healthy except for these horrific wounds. We have to put them down and it hurts so much more because the birds are otherwise fine, but they just can't be repaired."
She displayed an X-ray of one sea gull that might survive. "The break was not as bad, so we think we can repair it," she said.
All of the euthanized birds, rather than being cremated, which is the usual process, are being kept as evidence. Authorities are considering this a crime spree and if and when the culprit is caught, their bodies will play an important part in the prosecution's case.
With tears in her eyes, Beavers carefully put the bird corpses back in a freezer after allowing them to be photographed. "Whoever is doing this needs to be caught," she said. "This is sinister, cruel and brutal."
Anyone with knowledge of these crimes is encouraged to contact California Department of Fish and Game or e-mail wwccinfo@gmail.com.
http://www.aolnews.com/2011/03/09/bizarre-bird-maimings-in-huntington-beach-a-vast-right-wing-c/
Showing posts with label mutilations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mutilations. Show all posts
Monday, March 14, 2011
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Neighbors Wake to Headless Animals
http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/weird/Neighbors-Wake-to-Headless-Animals-in-the-Street-105460693.html?dr
A gruesome Halloween mystery came to a Miami neighborhood Thursday morning when residents awoke to find dozens of dead, headless animals dumped down their street. About a dozen goats, cats and different types of birds were laid out on nearly two blocks between 16th Terrace and 15th Terrace on 34th Avenue in Miami, leaving residents scared at what might be next as Halloween approaches.
"Nothing had a head," said Marioly Perez, who was awakened by screeching tires as a car peeled out down the street. "I have never seen anything like this. It's scary." Miami Police believe the dead animals might have been part of a religious ritual like a Santeria, but those don't usually involve cats. There was also a "very large" animal that no one could identify, residents said.
It all started when something went bump in the night outside. A loud boom woke residents and the sounds of a fast-moving car caused them to come outside.When they walked out, the scene resembled something from a nightmare - a trail of headless animals with body parts strewn everywhere. Perez said the smell was suffocating and that it seemed like the animals had been dead for some time.
"We all love animals here. This is very, very depressing. You don't know what kind of crazy people are around your neighborhood," resident Josefine Pita said. "It's very, very scary because you don't know if they are going to steal your animal."
The City's Sanitation Department cleared away the animal carcasses, while the Fire Department hosed down the Street. Anyone with information is urged to contact the Miami Police Department or call Crimestoppers at 305-471-TIPS.
A gruesome Halloween mystery came to a Miami neighborhood Thursday morning when residents awoke to find dozens of dead, headless animals dumped down their street. About a dozen goats, cats and different types of birds were laid out on nearly two blocks between 16th Terrace and 15th Terrace on 34th Avenue in Miami, leaving residents scared at what might be next as Halloween approaches.
"Nothing had a head," said Marioly Perez, who was awakened by screeching tires as a car peeled out down the street. "I have never seen anything like this. It's scary." Miami Police believe the dead animals might have been part of a religious ritual like a Santeria, but those don't usually involve cats. There was also a "very large" animal that no one could identify, residents said.
It all started when something went bump in the night outside. A loud boom woke residents and the sounds of a fast-moving car caused them to come outside.When they walked out, the scene resembled something from a nightmare - a trail of headless animals with body parts strewn everywhere. Perez said the smell was suffocating and that it seemed like the animals had been dead for some time.
"We all love animals here. This is very, very depressing. You don't know what kind of crazy people are around your neighborhood," resident Josefine Pita said. "It's very, very scary because you don't know if they are going to steal your animal."
The City's Sanitation Department cleared away the animal carcasses, while the Fire Department hosed down the Street. Anyone with information is urged to contact the Miami Police Department or call Crimestoppers at 305-471-TIPS.
Neighbors Wake to Headless Animals
http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/weird/Neighbors-Wake-to-Headless-Animals-in-the-Street-105460693.html?dr
A gruesome Halloween mystery came to a Miami neighborhood Thursday morning when residents awoke to find dozens of dead, headless animals dumped down their street. About a dozen goats, cats and different types of birds were laid out on nearly two blocks between 16th Terrace and 15th Terrace on 34th Avenue in Miami, leaving residents scared at what might be next as Halloween approaches.
"Nothing had a head," said Marioly Perez, who was awakened by screeching tires as a car peeled out down the street. "I have never seen anything like this. It's scary." Miami Police believe the dead animals might have been part of a religious ritual like a Santeria, but those don't usually involve cats. There was also a "very large" animal that no one could identify, residents said.
It all started when something went bump in the night outside. A loud boom woke residents and the sounds of a fast-moving car caused them to come outside.When they walked out, the scene resembled something from a nightmare - a trail of headless animals with body parts strewn everywhere. Perez said the smell was suffocating and that it seemed like the animals had been dead for some time.
"We all love animals here. This is very, very depressing. You don't know what kind of crazy people are around your neighborhood," resident Josefine Pita said. "It's very, very scary because you don't know if they are going to steal your animal."
The City's Sanitation Department cleared away the animal carcasses, while the Fire Department hosed down the Street. Anyone with information is urged to contact the Miami Police Department or call Crimestoppers at 305-471-TIPS.
A gruesome Halloween mystery came to a Miami neighborhood Thursday morning when residents awoke to find dozens of dead, headless animals dumped down their street. About a dozen goats, cats and different types of birds were laid out on nearly two blocks between 16th Terrace and 15th Terrace on 34th Avenue in Miami, leaving residents scared at what might be next as Halloween approaches.
"Nothing had a head," said Marioly Perez, who was awakened by screeching tires as a car peeled out down the street. "I have never seen anything like this. It's scary." Miami Police believe the dead animals might have been part of a religious ritual like a Santeria, but those don't usually involve cats. There was also a "very large" animal that no one could identify, residents said.
It all started when something went bump in the night outside. A loud boom woke residents and the sounds of a fast-moving car caused them to come outside.When they walked out, the scene resembled something from a nightmare - a trail of headless animals with body parts strewn everywhere. Perez said the smell was suffocating and that it seemed like the animals had been dead for some time.
"We all love animals here. This is very, very depressing. You don't know what kind of crazy people are around your neighborhood," resident Josefine Pita said. "It's very, very scary because you don't know if they are going to steal your animal."
The City's Sanitation Department cleared away the animal carcasses, while the Fire Department hosed down the Street. Anyone with information is urged to contact the Miami Police Department or call Crimestoppers at 305-471-TIPS.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Horse Cachet stabbed, scalped in fatal attack at Epping
By Wayne Flower
From: Herald Sun
October 08, 2010
THE sickening stabbing and mutilation of a former champion show horse in Melbourne is one of the worst cases of animal cruelty, an RSPCA inspector says.
RSPCA senior inspector Daniel Bode today said the knife attack on 15-year-old dressage champion Cachet in an agistment paddock was "absolutely shocking".
"It's one of the worst cases I've seen," Mr Bode said today.
Mr Bode said the maximum penalty for aggravated animal cruelty in Victoria was two years imprisonment or a $24,000 fine.
"We'll be doing everything in our power to make sure that whoever has done this sort of cruelty is not allowed to do it again," he said.
Cachet's owner Michelle Azzopardi collapsed when she saw her beloved mare lying dead, covered with flies last Sunday in Epping.
"I was numb, in disbelief," she said, trying to hold back tears.
"My heart is broken. I haven't slept, I haven't eaten and not moved outside the house."
She said the image of Cachet dead and covered in blood keeps haunting her.
The senseless killing has been devastating for her and her family.
Willy, another family horse sharing the paddock with Cachet, is fretting for her friend and hasn't eaten all week.
Ms Azzopardi said Cachet must have been targeted.
Her paddock is off the road, away from other horses, and whoever did it would have had to walk up a long laneway to reach her, she said.
But the other mystery is Cachet is wary of strangers.
Ms Azzopardi said the mare would have run away or reared at an approaching stranger.
She said it must have been two or more attackers because the horse would have been too strong for one person to subdue.
"She had been stabbed three times at least and her neck had been scalped," Ms Azzopardi said.
"They cut her mane and cut at least two inches into her flesh down her neck.
"They have to be mentally sick for someone to do this to an innocent horse.
"She was beautiful, cheeky, she would run around the paddock and try to bite me, playing.
"If I took too long to feed her she would stamp her feet at me."
Ms Azzopardi last saw Cachet alive last Friday.
Police are appealing for anyone with any information to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
http://www.news.com.au/national/horse-cachet-stabbed-scalped-in-fatal-attack-at-epping/story-e6frfkvr-1225935756449#ixzz11yQ6szHT
From: Herald Sun
October 08, 2010
THE sickening stabbing and mutilation of a former champion show horse in Melbourne is one of the worst cases of animal cruelty, an RSPCA inspector says.
RSPCA senior inspector Daniel Bode today said the knife attack on 15-year-old dressage champion Cachet in an agistment paddock was "absolutely shocking".
"It's one of the worst cases I've seen," Mr Bode said today.
Mr Bode said the maximum penalty for aggravated animal cruelty in Victoria was two years imprisonment or a $24,000 fine.
"We'll be doing everything in our power to make sure that whoever has done this sort of cruelty is not allowed to do it again," he said.
Cachet's owner Michelle Azzopardi collapsed when she saw her beloved mare lying dead, covered with flies last Sunday in Epping.
"I was numb, in disbelief," she said, trying to hold back tears.
"My heart is broken. I haven't slept, I haven't eaten and not moved outside the house."
She said the image of Cachet dead and covered in blood keeps haunting her.
The senseless killing has been devastating for her and her family.
Willy, another family horse sharing the paddock with Cachet, is fretting for her friend and hasn't eaten all week.
Ms Azzopardi said Cachet must have been targeted.
Her paddock is off the road, away from other horses, and whoever did it would have had to walk up a long laneway to reach her, she said.
But the other mystery is Cachet is wary of strangers.
Ms Azzopardi said the mare would have run away or reared at an approaching stranger.
She said it must have been two or more attackers because the horse would have been too strong for one person to subdue.
"She had been stabbed three times at least and her neck had been scalped," Ms Azzopardi said.
"They cut her mane and cut at least two inches into her flesh down her neck.
"They have to be mentally sick for someone to do this to an innocent horse.
"She was beautiful, cheeky, she would run around the paddock and try to bite me, playing.
"If I took too long to feed her she would stamp her feet at me."
Ms Azzopardi last saw Cachet alive last Friday.
Police are appealing for anyone with any information to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
http://www.news.com.au/national/horse-cachet-stabbed-scalped-in-fatal-attack-at-epping/story-e6frfkvr-1225935756449#ixzz11yQ6szHT
Horse Cachet stabbed, scalped in fatal attack at Epping
By Wayne Flower
From: Herald Sun
October 08, 2010
THE sickening stabbing and mutilation of a former champion show horse in Melbourne is one of the worst cases of animal cruelty, an RSPCA inspector says.
RSPCA senior inspector Daniel Bode today said the knife attack on 15-year-old dressage champion Cachet in an agistment paddock was "absolutely shocking".
"It's one of the worst cases I've seen," Mr Bode said today.
Mr Bode said the maximum penalty for aggravated animal cruelty in Victoria was two years imprisonment or a $24,000 fine.
"We'll be doing everything in our power to make sure that whoever has done this sort of cruelty is not allowed to do it again," he said.
Cachet's owner Michelle Azzopardi collapsed when she saw her beloved mare lying dead, covered with flies last Sunday in Epping.
"I was numb, in disbelief," she said, trying to hold back tears.
"My heart is broken. I haven't slept, I haven't eaten and not moved outside the house."
She said the image of Cachet dead and covered in blood keeps haunting her.
The senseless killing has been devastating for her and her family.
Willy, another family horse sharing the paddock with Cachet, is fretting for her friend and hasn't eaten all week.
Ms Azzopardi said Cachet must have been targeted.
Her paddock is off the road, away from other horses, and whoever did it would have had to walk up a long laneway to reach her, she said.
But the other mystery is Cachet is wary of strangers.
Ms Azzopardi said the mare would have run away or reared at an approaching stranger.
She said it must have been two or more attackers because the horse would have been too strong for one person to subdue.
"She had been stabbed three times at least and her neck had been scalped," Ms Azzopardi said.
"They cut her mane and cut at least two inches into her flesh down her neck.
"They have to be mentally sick for someone to do this to an innocent horse.
"She was beautiful, cheeky, she would run around the paddock and try to bite me, playing.
"If I took too long to feed her she would stamp her feet at me."
Ms Azzopardi last saw Cachet alive last Friday.
Police are appealing for anyone with any information to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
http://www.news.com.au/national/horse-cachet-stabbed-scalped-in-fatal-attack-at-epping/story-e6frfkvr-1225935756449#ixzz11yQ6szHT
From: Herald Sun
October 08, 2010
THE sickening stabbing and mutilation of a former champion show horse in Melbourne is one of the worst cases of animal cruelty, an RSPCA inspector says.
RSPCA senior inspector Daniel Bode today said the knife attack on 15-year-old dressage champion Cachet in an agistment paddock was "absolutely shocking".
"It's one of the worst cases I've seen," Mr Bode said today.
Mr Bode said the maximum penalty for aggravated animal cruelty in Victoria was two years imprisonment or a $24,000 fine.
"We'll be doing everything in our power to make sure that whoever has done this sort of cruelty is not allowed to do it again," he said.
Cachet's owner Michelle Azzopardi collapsed when she saw her beloved mare lying dead, covered with flies last Sunday in Epping.
"I was numb, in disbelief," she said, trying to hold back tears.
"My heart is broken. I haven't slept, I haven't eaten and not moved outside the house."
She said the image of Cachet dead and covered in blood keeps haunting her.
The senseless killing has been devastating for her and her family.
Willy, another family horse sharing the paddock with Cachet, is fretting for her friend and hasn't eaten all week.
Ms Azzopardi said Cachet must have been targeted.
Her paddock is off the road, away from other horses, and whoever did it would have had to walk up a long laneway to reach her, she said.
But the other mystery is Cachet is wary of strangers.
Ms Azzopardi said the mare would have run away or reared at an approaching stranger.
She said it must have been two or more attackers because the horse would have been too strong for one person to subdue.
"She had been stabbed three times at least and her neck had been scalped," Ms Azzopardi said.
"They cut her mane and cut at least two inches into her flesh down her neck.
"They have to be mentally sick for someone to do this to an innocent horse.
"She was beautiful, cheeky, she would run around the paddock and try to bite me, playing.
"If I took too long to feed her she would stamp her feet at me."
Ms Azzopardi last saw Cachet alive last Friday.
Police are appealing for anyone with any information to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
http://www.news.com.au/national/horse-cachet-stabbed-scalped-in-fatal-attack-at-epping/story-e6frfkvr-1225935756449#ixzz11yQ6szHT
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Couple Hunts Serial Cow Killer
Posted: 3:19 pm EDT September 30, 2010Updated: 10:43 am EDT October 1, 2010
HALL COUNTY -- A Hall County family has spent nearly a year searching for answers in the mutilation deaths of their cattle.
Kathy and John Cooper said they discovered their latest dead cow on their pasture on Monday. It was the 20th cow they’ve lost, and once again someone had removed its genitals and udders.
PHOTOS: 20 Cows Mutilated
"It's just frustration like somebody robbed you," John told Channel 2’s Kerry Kavanaugh.
The Coopers said they believe someone is poisoning their cattle then mutilating them in the middle of the night.
"It's almost like a surgically removed cut," Kathy said.
The couple has called the Hall County Sheriff's Office after each incident, but authorities are just as confused. Investigators said they’re stumped because the culprits don't even leave behind any footprints.
"They are like us, they scratch their heads and can't make sense out of it," said John.
The Coopers said they try to ride the pasture more frequently and look for tracks or clues, but so far, they haven't found anything.
"It's a waste. They're 700-800 pound cows laying on the ground that nobody benefits from," said Kathy.
The Coopers are offering a reward for information that leads to an arrest. Anyone with information is asked to call the Hall County Sheriff's office at 770-531-6879.
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/25228737/detail.html
HALL COUNTY -- A Hall County family has spent nearly a year searching for answers in the mutilation deaths of their cattle.
Kathy and John Cooper said they discovered their latest dead cow on their pasture on Monday. It was the 20th cow they’ve lost, and once again someone had removed its genitals and udders.
PHOTOS: 20 Cows Mutilated
"It's just frustration like somebody robbed you," John told Channel 2’s Kerry Kavanaugh.
The Coopers said they believe someone is poisoning their cattle then mutilating them in the middle of the night.
"It's almost like a surgically removed cut," Kathy said.
The couple has called the Hall County Sheriff's Office after each incident, but authorities are just as confused. Investigators said they’re stumped because the culprits don't even leave behind any footprints.
"They are like us, they scratch their heads and can't make sense out of it," said John.
The Coopers said they try to ride the pasture more frequently and look for tracks or clues, but so far, they haven't found anything.
"It's a waste. They're 700-800 pound cows laying on the ground that nobody benefits from," said Kathy.
The Coopers are offering a reward for information that leads to an arrest. Anyone with information is asked to call the Hall County Sheriff's office at 770-531-6879.
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/25228737/detail.html
Couple Hunts Serial Cow Killer
Posted: 3:19 pm EDT September 30, 2010Updated: 10:43 am EDT October 1, 2010
HALL COUNTY -- A Hall County family has spent nearly a year searching for answers in the mutilation deaths of their cattle.
Kathy and John Cooper said they discovered their latest dead cow on their pasture on Monday. It was the 20th cow they’ve lost, and once again someone had removed its genitals and udders.
PHOTOS: 20 Cows Mutilated
"It's just frustration like somebody robbed you," John told Channel 2’s Kerry Kavanaugh.
The Coopers said they believe someone is poisoning their cattle then mutilating them in the middle of the night.
"It's almost like a surgically removed cut," Kathy said.
The couple has called the Hall County Sheriff's Office after each incident, but authorities are just as confused. Investigators said they’re stumped because the culprits don't even leave behind any footprints.
"They are like us, they scratch their heads and can't make sense out of it," said John.
The Coopers said they try to ride the pasture more frequently and look for tracks or clues, but so far, they haven't found anything.
"It's a waste. They're 700-800 pound cows laying on the ground that nobody benefits from," said Kathy.
The Coopers are offering a reward for information that leads to an arrest. Anyone with information is asked to call the Hall County Sheriff's office at 770-531-6879.
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/25228737/detail.html
HALL COUNTY -- A Hall County family has spent nearly a year searching for answers in the mutilation deaths of their cattle.
Kathy and John Cooper said they discovered their latest dead cow on their pasture on Monday. It was the 20th cow they’ve lost, and once again someone had removed its genitals and udders.
PHOTOS: 20 Cows Mutilated
"It's just frustration like somebody robbed you," John told Channel 2’s Kerry Kavanaugh.
The Coopers said they believe someone is poisoning their cattle then mutilating them in the middle of the night.
"It's almost like a surgically removed cut," Kathy said.
The couple has called the Hall County Sheriff's Office after each incident, but authorities are just as confused. Investigators said they’re stumped because the culprits don't even leave behind any footprints.
"They are like us, they scratch their heads and can't make sense out of it," said John.
The Coopers said they try to ride the pasture more frequently and look for tracks or clues, but so far, they haven't found anything.
"It's a waste. They're 700-800 pound cows laying on the ground that nobody benefits from," said Kathy.
The Coopers are offering a reward for information that leads to an arrest. Anyone with information is asked to call the Hall County Sheriff's office at 770-531-6879.
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/25228737/detail.html
Sunday, August 8, 2010
UNPLEASANT PUERTO RICAN GOAT STORY
In a scene conjuring images of “The Godfather,” a disemboweled goat was found dead Friday, a rope around its neck, on the front lawn of a controversial Rehoboth town official.The goat was first spotted about 5:30 a.m. by a neighbor walking by Chris Morra’s Summer Street home. About 90 minutes later, another neighbor also saw it and called him.“I’m not putting up with it. I’m not being intimidated,” Morra said yesterday. “It’s a shame they would harm an innocent animal.”--
full story:http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/20100808official_not_intimidated_by_goat_corpse_says_unhappy_residents_targeting_him/
full story:http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/20100808official_not_intimidated_by_goat_corpse_says_unhappy_residents_targeting_him/
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Are sheep the targets for alien invaders?
A Walsall man has told BBC WM that aliens and UFOs are responsible for a string of animal attacks in the UK.
Mike Freebury, a member of the Animal Pathology Field Unit, has investigated the mystery of 'cattle mutilations' for a number of years.The phenomenon, first reported in America in the 1970s, involves the unexplained deaths of rural animals.The bodies are often discovered with missing limbs and organs, removed with surgical precision.Mike says that the illegal attacks are also happening in Britain - and UFOs are responsible.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/blackcountry/hi/tv_and_radio/newsid_8718000/8718028.stm
Mike Freebury, a member of the Animal Pathology Field Unit, has investigated the mystery of 'cattle mutilations' for a number of years.The phenomenon, first reported in America in the 1970s, involves the unexplained deaths of rural animals.The bodies are often discovered with missing limbs and organs, removed with surgical precision.Mike says that the illegal attacks are also happening in Britain - and UFOs are responsible.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/blackcountry/hi/tv_and_radio/newsid_8718000/8718028.stm
Thursday, May 13, 2010
New Wave of Cattle Mutilations Very Different
By Chris Capps 5/12/10
Farmers these days seem to have enough to deal with considering the increased cost of food production and the difficulty of keeping overhead at a maintainable level in order to keep from starving themselves. And if that's not enough, there's a host of new problems facing farmers including the new wave of cattle mutilations in Gem County, Idaho. But unlike previous cases these cattle mutilations have an interesting and disturbing twist to them.
Few believe the recent cattle mutilations have been caused by aliens. Cattle are being shot with low caliber bullets and then their organs are surgically removed as they bleed to death. The grim details of the case have Brand Inspector Lynn Gibson worried. "I don't remember anything on this scale," Lynn told one newspaper, "It's usually just one incident." The strange details of the case are reminiscent of the cattle mutilations suspected to be of a supernatural source, but are fairly obviously done by human hands. But why? Any one aspect of the case seems perfectly explainable by itself, but when put together they paint a picture that is bleak and strange for the perpetrators of the crimes.
The mysterious perpetrator shot one cow with a smaller rifle, and cut one hind leg and a shoulder from the body. After that, they scalped the creature and went into its body and took out a lung with surgical precision. There is no known motive for the killings. "If they needed the meat to feed their families," one local farmer said, "Why take only those parts and leave the rest?" Another farmer from the area expressed his disbelief more colorfully, ending with, "Why take the lung?" As the killing spree continues with no end in sight, authorities are offering a $3,000 reward for information leading to the capture of the cattle mutilators. The offer comes from the Owner of the cattle, the Idaho Farm Bureau, and the Idaho Cattlemen's Association.
And in addition to the property damage to the cattle in the area, there is a very real concern about the mindset of such a killer. Though many farmers in the region come from a long line of frontiersmen and farmers who express that they are prepared to protect their families from a possibly deranged individual, there are others who are simply baffled and a little frightened by the idea of someone wandering the countryside with a rifle and surgical tools extracting the organs of cattle for unknown reasons. "Kids wouldn't have any reason to do it because they couldn't brag about it at school," Gibson continued, analyzing the motivations for these strange incidents.
And the Gem County Sheriff's Office is asking anyone with information related to the killings to report it to the Idaho Gem Gounty Sheriff's Office. Those who are still holding to the possibility of an alien intervention on this case should also know that the surgical precision normally attributed to cattle mutilation, though expert, is nowhere near the level normally associated with the typical supernaturally suspected cases.
http://www.unexplainable.net/Simply-Unexplainable/New-Wave-of-Cattle-Mutilations-May-Have.shtml
Farmers these days seem to have enough to deal with considering the increased cost of food production and the difficulty of keeping overhead at a maintainable level in order to keep from starving themselves. And if that's not enough, there's a host of new problems facing farmers including the new wave of cattle mutilations in Gem County, Idaho. But unlike previous cases these cattle mutilations have an interesting and disturbing twist to them.
Few believe the recent cattle mutilations have been caused by aliens. Cattle are being shot with low caliber bullets and then their organs are surgically removed as they bleed to death. The grim details of the case have Brand Inspector Lynn Gibson worried. "I don't remember anything on this scale," Lynn told one newspaper, "It's usually just one incident." The strange details of the case are reminiscent of the cattle mutilations suspected to be of a supernatural source, but are fairly obviously done by human hands. But why? Any one aspect of the case seems perfectly explainable by itself, but when put together they paint a picture that is bleak and strange for the perpetrators of the crimes.
The mysterious perpetrator shot one cow with a smaller rifle, and cut one hind leg and a shoulder from the body. After that, they scalped the creature and went into its body and took out a lung with surgical precision. There is no known motive for the killings. "If they needed the meat to feed their families," one local farmer said, "Why take only those parts and leave the rest?" Another farmer from the area expressed his disbelief more colorfully, ending with, "Why take the lung?" As the killing spree continues with no end in sight, authorities are offering a $3,000 reward for information leading to the capture of the cattle mutilators. The offer comes from the Owner of the cattle, the Idaho Farm Bureau, and the Idaho Cattlemen's Association.
And in addition to the property damage to the cattle in the area, there is a very real concern about the mindset of such a killer. Though many farmers in the region come from a long line of frontiersmen and farmers who express that they are prepared to protect their families from a possibly deranged individual, there are others who are simply baffled and a little frightened by the idea of someone wandering the countryside with a rifle and surgical tools extracting the organs of cattle for unknown reasons. "Kids wouldn't have any reason to do it because they couldn't brag about it at school," Gibson continued, analyzing the motivations for these strange incidents.
And the Gem County Sheriff's Office is asking anyone with information related to the killings to report it to the Idaho Gem Gounty Sheriff's Office. Those who are still holding to the possibility of an alien intervention on this case should also know that the surgical precision normally attributed to cattle mutilation, though expert, is nowhere near the level normally associated with the typical supernaturally suspected cases.
http://www.unexplainable.net/Simply-Unexplainable/New-Wave-of-Cattle-Mutilations-May-Have.shtml
Monday, April 5, 2010
Sheep attacked 'by aliens'
5 April 2010, 10:07Unexplained sheep attacks in Shropshire have led to claims that aliens are to blame.
Farmers near Shrewsbury have found the animals dead after seemingly being "experimented on", reports The Sun.
UFO hunters are linking the mutilations - including the removal of sheep brains and eyes - to sightings of mysterious orange lights in the sky and claim to have witnessed sheep being zapped by two of the spheres.
Phil Hoyle, 53, who has spent nine years probing the riddle of livestock found killed, said: "For a short while it looked more like a Star Wars battle."
He also interviewed farmers and "all but one had had some type of unusual disappearance of animals or deaths with strange injuries".
The retired steelworker added: "Animals are being clinically and surgically sampled by a highly advanced technology."
http://web.orange.co.uk/article/quirkies/sheep_attacked_by_aliens
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Who Is Killing, Maiming Cattle?
January 21, 2010
By John Severance
for Mountain Mail
SOCORRO, New Mexico (STPNS) -- Somebody is killing and maiming cows in northern Socorro County.
In the past two years, Socorro County Sheriff deputies have been called at least nine times and possibly more to investigate who has been shooting, injuring and dragging cattle in the Veguita area.
The Barela family owns three cows that have sustained injuries in the past five months. One cow was shot, another cow was run down by a truck and still another was the victim of a bow and arrow. Socorro County is considered to be open range and cattle do not have to be fenced in.
Deputies were called to the intersection of Escobar and Diaz in Veguita on Dec. 25. According to the report, it was noticed that a cow had been injured and was lying off the roadway. It appeared the cow had been struck, possibly by a vehicle. The cow had been shot. Both of its legs were broken from being dragged across a dirt road and Carlos Barela had to put the cow down.
"You could see her trying to get up but kept falling down," Carlos Barela told KRQE television this week. "Once we saw the legs curled up there was no way."
The Animal Protection of New Mexico is offering a reward of up to $5,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest in the Christmas Day incident and any of the other incidents. If you have any information, call 877-5-HUMANE.
The Christmas Day incident is just one of many. On Nov. 17, Gilbert Barela called deputies to his La Joya residence. The complaint said the victim witnessed the suspect chasing his cows. The victim stated he was using a scope at the time and saw the suspect chase the cows in his vehicle and then exit that same vehicle at his residence. Deputy Casey McFadden met with the suspect, who was very uncooperative, according to the report. One of the cows that the suspect was chasing arrived at the livestock pen limping, apparently struck by the suspect’s vehicle.
On Oct. 31, Gilbert Barela called deputies to his La Joya location. Barela stated the suspect was allowing her dogs to chase after his cattle. The victim told Barela that she was going to shoot his cows because they had damaged her fence and would shoot them if they returned to her property. The deputy met with the suspect who showed him the damage caused by victim’s cows.
On Aug. 25, deputies were called to Veguita by Joseph Barela, who stated the suspect was chasing his cattle with her vehicle. The deputy met with the suspect at an earlier date in regards to her chasing cows and the suspect had been cited into magistrate court.
In December, Veguita resident Brett Jones presented a livestock petition to the Socorro County Commission. Jones wanted to apply for an order that would prohibit the running of livestock within the limits of Rio Grande and Terra Grande Estates.
County attorney Adren Nance said in December, “The petitioner has not met all three elements required for the Board of County Commissioners to issue an order prohibiting livestock running at large.
“Although at least 25 residents of the area did sign the petition, they are not residents of a “town or district” as the area is a subdivision, not a townsite. Additionally, the area was not properly posted. Therefore, the Board cannot issue the order,”
Jones issued his objections and told the commission he was going to sue. As Jones was being escorted from the commission meeting by Sheriff’s Deputy Preciliano “Shorty” Vaiza, vice chair Dan Monette yelled out, “We’ll see you in court.”
On Dec. 14, Jones filed suit against the commission, County Manager Delilah Walsh and Nance in Socorro Magistrate Court. On the same day, Jones filed two other suits. One was against Gilbert Barela and deputy Casey McFadden. The other was against Myles Cubertson, Bobby Pierce and Mary McCoy for unspecified damages.
http://www.stpns.net/view_article.html?articleId=106532654286786413588
(Submitted by Caty Bergman)
By John Severance
for Mountain Mail
SOCORRO, New Mexico (STPNS) -- Somebody is killing and maiming cows in northern Socorro County.
In the past two years, Socorro County Sheriff deputies have been called at least nine times and possibly more to investigate who has been shooting, injuring and dragging cattle in the Veguita area.
The Barela family owns three cows that have sustained injuries in the past five months. One cow was shot, another cow was run down by a truck and still another was the victim of a bow and arrow. Socorro County is considered to be open range and cattle do not have to be fenced in.
Deputies were called to the intersection of Escobar and Diaz in Veguita on Dec. 25. According to the report, it was noticed that a cow had been injured and was lying off the roadway. It appeared the cow had been struck, possibly by a vehicle. The cow had been shot. Both of its legs were broken from being dragged across a dirt road and Carlos Barela had to put the cow down.
"You could see her trying to get up but kept falling down," Carlos Barela told KRQE television this week. "Once we saw the legs curled up there was no way."
The Animal Protection of New Mexico is offering a reward of up to $5,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest in the Christmas Day incident and any of the other incidents. If you have any information, call 877-5-HUMANE.
The Christmas Day incident is just one of many. On Nov. 17, Gilbert Barela called deputies to his La Joya residence. The complaint said the victim witnessed the suspect chasing his cows. The victim stated he was using a scope at the time and saw the suspect chase the cows in his vehicle and then exit that same vehicle at his residence. Deputy Casey McFadden met with the suspect, who was very uncooperative, according to the report. One of the cows that the suspect was chasing arrived at the livestock pen limping, apparently struck by the suspect’s vehicle.
On Oct. 31, Gilbert Barela called deputies to his La Joya location. Barela stated the suspect was allowing her dogs to chase after his cattle. The victim told Barela that she was going to shoot his cows because they had damaged her fence and would shoot them if they returned to her property. The deputy met with the suspect who showed him the damage caused by victim’s cows.
On Aug. 25, deputies were called to Veguita by Joseph Barela, who stated the suspect was chasing his cattle with her vehicle. The deputy met with the suspect at an earlier date in regards to her chasing cows and the suspect had been cited into magistrate court.
In December, Veguita resident Brett Jones presented a livestock petition to the Socorro County Commission. Jones wanted to apply for an order that would prohibit the running of livestock within the limits of Rio Grande and Terra Grande Estates.
County attorney Adren Nance said in December, “The petitioner has not met all three elements required for the Board of County Commissioners to issue an order prohibiting livestock running at large.
“Although at least 25 residents of the area did sign the petition, they are not residents of a “town or district” as the area is a subdivision, not a townsite. Additionally, the area was not properly posted. Therefore, the Board cannot issue the order,”
Jones issued his objections and told the commission he was going to sue. As Jones was being escorted from the commission meeting by Sheriff’s Deputy Preciliano “Shorty” Vaiza, vice chair Dan Monette yelled out, “We’ll see you in court.”
On Dec. 14, Jones filed suit against the commission, County Manager Delilah Walsh and Nance in Socorro Magistrate Court. On the same day, Jones filed two other suits. One was against Gilbert Barela and deputy Casey McFadden. The other was against Myles Cubertson, Bobby Pierce and Mary McCoy for unspecified damages.
http://www.stpns.net/view_article.html?articleId=106532654286786413588
(Submitted by Caty Bergman)
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Colorado cow mutilations baffle ranchers, cops, UFO believer
By Jason Blevins, The Denver Post
December 2009
SAN LUIS — Manuel Sanchez tucks his leathery hands into well-worn pockets and nods toward a cedar tree where, last month, he found his fourth mysteriously slaughtered calf in as many weeks.
"I have no idea what could do this. I wish I did," he says.
Four calves, all killed overnight. Their innards gone. Tongues sliced out. Udders carefully removed. Facial skin sliced and gone. Eyes cored away. Not a single track surrounding the carcasses, which were found in pastures locked behind two gates and a mile from any road. Not a drop of blood on the ground or even on the remaining skin.
In his life in the piñon-patched pastures where his father and grandfather raised cattle, the 72-year-old Sanchez has seen mountain lions and coyotes kill cattle, elk and deer. He's seen birds scavenge carcasses. He's heard of thieves slaughtering livestock in the field for their meat. He can't explain what he saw last month.
"A lion will drag its kill. Coyotes rip and tear flesh. These were perfect cuts — like with a laser or like a scalpel. And what would take the waste — all the guts — and leave the nice, tender meat?" Sanchez says, as he nudges his old Ford through rutted trails, rosary beads swinging from his rearview mirror. "No tracks. No blood. No nothing. I got nothing to go by. They don't leave no trace."
Every rancher who has reported similar cattle deaths — and there have been at least eight such deaths in southern Colorado this year — uses the same description.
"They just stripped this one," says Tom Miller, who in March was one of three ranchers near Trinidad who discovered mutilated cattle.
Cow raises the alarm
One morning, he went out to his concrete troughs to feed his herd of about 80 red and black Angus cows and calves. The herd was racing about. A cow that a week before had birthed a calf was bellowing, "raising all kind of devil," Miller says.
There by the trough — past the locked gate a quarter-mile from U.S. 350 east of Hoehne — was the calf. Its front legs and torso were gone. Its back legs were hanging by hide to a shattered pelvis and a meatless backbone. Miller thought a pack of coyotes had torn into the calf the night before.
Then he saw the ears: sliced off the head in circular, surgical-like cuts. He noticed that there were no tracks. And no blood anywhere.
"If anyone can show me how this happened, I will believe them. I know it's not coyotes, especially in one night. Only a human or something like that can cut the ears like that," says Miller, a 72-year-old rancher who was raised on the prairie bordering the Purgatoire River.
"If it was done by people, they sure went out of their way to bother and confuse me. And really, why? It doesn't make any sense."
Mysteriously mangled
Colorado Brand Inspector Dennis Williams came out and looked at Miller's calf. He lives next door; the calf would be the last of three strangely mutilated cattle that he would investigate in March of this year.
"I've heard about it. It was weird, to say the least. Totally unexplainable. To me, it looked like that calf had been dropped from a high distance, the way its hips were dislocated and all its broken bones," Williams says.
That same month, ranchers had called Williams to grisly scenes northeast of Aguilar and west of Weston to investigate mysteriously mangled cattle that had been seen healthy the day before.
To add to the weirdness, Sanchez, Miller and Mike Duran, who found a sliced Red Angus cow near Weston in March, have all experienced similar mutilations before. Sanchez lost cows in 2006 and 1993, Miller in 1997 and 1980, and Duran in 2000 and 1995.
"It's weird and unexplainable," says Duran, who lost a healthy 27-year-old Red Angus cow on March 8, her udder and rear end removed with what he describes as "laser cuts, like when somebody cuts metal with a torch."
Cops, like Williams and the ranchers, are stumped.
"We can't come up with anything," says Las Animas County sheriff's Deputy Derek Navarette, who investigated the Miller and Duran calves.
"We've seen these before and they are all kind of the same. No one has ever explained it. Northern New Mexico has had some of these same cases, and in those cases they never got any further than we did."
Predators ruled out
Chuck Zukowski of Colorado Springs investigated three of the eight mutilated cows in southern Colorado this year. The amateur UFO investigator and reserve deputy in El Paso County documents each scene, testing for radiation and scanning carcasses with ultraviolet light.
Despite his extraterrestrial inclinations, Zukowski's studies — found on his ufonut.com website — fall short of concluding anything paranormal. He seems certain all the animals he studied were killed and drained before they were sliced, which explains the lack of blood found near the animals.
The way the tongues were sliced off in straight lines back behind the teeth indicates it is not a predator kill, he says.
"I'm looking for obvious things," Zukowski says. "I don't like to say aliens did it. There are just too many unknowns. I like to lean on human intervention until I actually see a UFO come down and take a cow."
Sanchez is a salt-of-the-earth-type fellow who put three kids through college running cattle. Yet, he says he and his wife marveled at incandescent blue lights hovering over a ridge near his pastures in July and August. He declined to speculate about the lights.
"I just say the truth and that's what I saw," he says.
Duran, on the other hand, is willing to take the next step. He's looked at it from every angle, he says. If it wasn't human and wasn't a predator, he says, there's only one other option.
"I do believe it was UFOs. This universe is so big, a lot of people think we are the only ones here," he says, declining to guess why aliens harbor such bloody disdain for bovines.
"I bet there is something out there."
A history of ghostly butchery
The "Phantom Surgeons of the Plains," as they are known, have been slicing up Colorado cattle for decades. From the late 1960s to this year, the bloodless, trackless and isolated scenes all have been the same: bovines with ears, genitals, tongues, organs and udders neatly removed.
Worldwide, the incidents number more than 10,000. Colorado seems especially plagued. In 1975, ranchers on the state's Eastern Plains, particularly around southern Elbert County, reported more than 200 mysteriously mutilated cattle.
Theories abound, with some pointing to animal-sacrificing cults and others suggesting secretive government experiments and even military-guided laser beams. The alien conspiracy theory blossomed when inexplicably gored cattle were found adjacent to pastures with crop circles in Alabama. Other cases in New Mexico and Colorado involve tripod imprints in a circular area near the carcasses, suggesting the involvement of an atypical aircraft. Countless ranchers report "strange lights" in the sky around the time they find their sliced cattle.
Despite the theories, no mutilation has ever been thoroughly explained.
Colorado's dalliances with mysteriously mangled animals began with a horse named Snippy in 1967. Found in a defleshed, bloodless heap with her brain missing and neck bones cleaned gleaming white in September 1967 north of Alamosa, the 3-year-old Appaloosa is considered the pioneer of the unexplained mutilation phenomenon. Since Snippy, the paranormal-rich San Luis Valley under the shadow of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range has hosted hundreds of unsolved livestock deaths.
Jason Blevins
See video at: http://www.denverpost.com/ci_13956752
(Submitted by Brian Chapman)
December 2009
SAN LUIS — Manuel Sanchez tucks his leathery hands into well-worn pockets and nods toward a cedar tree where, last month, he found his fourth mysteriously slaughtered calf in as many weeks.
"I have no idea what could do this. I wish I did," he says.
Four calves, all killed overnight. Their innards gone. Tongues sliced out. Udders carefully removed. Facial skin sliced and gone. Eyes cored away. Not a single track surrounding the carcasses, which were found in pastures locked behind two gates and a mile from any road. Not a drop of blood on the ground or even on the remaining skin.
In his life in the piñon-patched pastures where his father and grandfather raised cattle, the 72-year-old Sanchez has seen mountain lions and coyotes kill cattle, elk and deer. He's seen birds scavenge carcasses. He's heard of thieves slaughtering livestock in the field for their meat. He can't explain what he saw last month.
"A lion will drag its kill. Coyotes rip and tear flesh. These were perfect cuts — like with a laser or like a scalpel. And what would take the waste — all the guts — and leave the nice, tender meat?" Sanchez says, as he nudges his old Ford through rutted trails, rosary beads swinging from his rearview mirror. "No tracks. No blood. No nothing. I got nothing to go by. They don't leave no trace."
Every rancher who has reported similar cattle deaths — and there have been at least eight such deaths in southern Colorado this year — uses the same description.
"They just stripped this one," says Tom Miller, who in March was one of three ranchers near Trinidad who discovered mutilated cattle.
Cow raises the alarm
One morning, he went out to his concrete troughs to feed his herd of about 80 red and black Angus cows and calves. The herd was racing about. A cow that a week before had birthed a calf was bellowing, "raising all kind of devil," Miller says.
There by the trough — past the locked gate a quarter-mile from U.S. 350 east of Hoehne — was the calf. Its front legs and torso were gone. Its back legs were hanging by hide to a shattered pelvis and a meatless backbone. Miller thought a pack of coyotes had torn into the calf the night before.
Then he saw the ears: sliced off the head in circular, surgical-like cuts. He noticed that there were no tracks. And no blood anywhere.
"If anyone can show me how this happened, I will believe them. I know it's not coyotes, especially in one night. Only a human or something like that can cut the ears like that," says Miller, a 72-year-old rancher who was raised on the prairie bordering the Purgatoire River.
"If it was done by people, they sure went out of their way to bother and confuse me. And really, why? It doesn't make any sense."
Mysteriously mangled
Colorado Brand Inspector Dennis Williams came out and looked at Miller's calf. He lives next door; the calf would be the last of three strangely mutilated cattle that he would investigate in March of this year.
"I've heard about it. It was weird, to say the least. Totally unexplainable. To me, it looked like that calf had been dropped from a high distance, the way its hips were dislocated and all its broken bones," Williams says.
That same month, ranchers had called Williams to grisly scenes northeast of Aguilar and west of Weston to investigate mysteriously mangled cattle that had been seen healthy the day before.
To add to the weirdness, Sanchez, Miller and Mike Duran, who found a sliced Red Angus cow near Weston in March, have all experienced similar mutilations before. Sanchez lost cows in 2006 and 1993, Miller in 1997 and 1980, and Duran in 2000 and 1995.
"It's weird and unexplainable," says Duran, who lost a healthy 27-year-old Red Angus cow on March 8, her udder and rear end removed with what he describes as "laser cuts, like when somebody cuts metal with a torch."
Cops, like Williams and the ranchers, are stumped.
"We can't come up with anything," says Las Animas County sheriff's Deputy Derek Navarette, who investigated the Miller and Duran calves.
"We've seen these before and they are all kind of the same. No one has ever explained it. Northern New Mexico has had some of these same cases, and in those cases they never got any further than we did."
Predators ruled out
Chuck Zukowski of Colorado Springs investigated three of the eight mutilated cows in southern Colorado this year. The amateur UFO investigator and reserve deputy in El Paso County documents each scene, testing for radiation and scanning carcasses with ultraviolet light.
Despite his extraterrestrial inclinations, Zukowski's studies — found on his ufonut.com website — fall short of concluding anything paranormal. He seems certain all the animals he studied were killed and drained before they were sliced, which explains the lack of blood found near the animals.
The way the tongues were sliced off in straight lines back behind the teeth indicates it is not a predator kill, he says.
"I'm looking for obvious things," Zukowski says. "I don't like to say aliens did it. There are just too many unknowns. I like to lean on human intervention until I actually see a UFO come down and take a cow."
Sanchez is a salt-of-the-earth-type fellow who put three kids through college running cattle. Yet, he says he and his wife marveled at incandescent blue lights hovering over a ridge near his pastures in July and August. He declined to speculate about the lights.
"I just say the truth and that's what I saw," he says.
Duran, on the other hand, is willing to take the next step. He's looked at it from every angle, he says. If it wasn't human and wasn't a predator, he says, there's only one other option.
"I do believe it was UFOs. This universe is so big, a lot of people think we are the only ones here," he says, declining to guess why aliens harbor such bloody disdain for bovines.
"I bet there is something out there."
A history of ghostly butchery
The "Phantom Surgeons of the Plains," as they are known, have been slicing up Colorado cattle for decades. From the late 1960s to this year, the bloodless, trackless and isolated scenes all have been the same: bovines with ears, genitals, tongues, organs and udders neatly removed.
Worldwide, the incidents number more than 10,000. Colorado seems especially plagued. In 1975, ranchers on the state's Eastern Plains, particularly around southern Elbert County, reported more than 200 mysteriously mutilated cattle.
Theories abound, with some pointing to animal-sacrificing cults and others suggesting secretive government experiments and even military-guided laser beams. The alien conspiracy theory blossomed when inexplicably gored cattle were found adjacent to pastures with crop circles in Alabama. Other cases in New Mexico and Colorado involve tripod imprints in a circular area near the carcasses, suggesting the involvement of an atypical aircraft. Countless ranchers report "strange lights" in the sky around the time they find their sliced cattle.
Despite the theories, no mutilation has ever been thoroughly explained.
Colorado's dalliances with mysteriously mangled animals began with a horse named Snippy in 1967. Found in a defleshed, bloodless heap with her brain missing and neck bones cleaned gleaming white in September 1967 north of Alamosa, the 3-year-old Appaloosa is considered the pioneer of the unexplained mutilation phenomenon. Since Snippy, the paranormal-rich San Luis Valley under the shadow of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range has hosted hundreds of unsolved livestock deaths.
Jason Blevins
See video at: http://www.denverpost.com/ci_13956752
(Submitted by Brian Chapman)
Colorado cow mutilations baffle ranchers, cops, UFO believer
By Jason Blevins, The Denver Post
December 2009
SAN LUIS — Manuel Sanchez tucks his leathery hands into well-worn pockets and nods toward a cedar tree where, last month, he found his fourth mysteriously slaughtered calf in as many weeks.
"I have no idea what could do this. I wish I did," he says.
Four calves, all killed overnight. Their innards gone. Tongues sliced out. Udders carefully removed. Facial skin sliced and gone. Eyes cored away. Not a single track surrounding the carcasses, which were found in pastures locked behind two gates and a mile from any road. Not a drop of blood on the ground or even on the remaining skin.
In his life in the piñon-patched pastures where his father and grandfather raised cattle, the 72-year-old Sanchez has seen mountain lions and coyotes kill cattle, elk and deer. He's seen birds scavenge carcasses. He's heard of thieves slaughtering livestock in the field for their meat. He can't explain what he saw last month.
"A lion will drag its kill. Coyotes rip and tear flesh. These were perfect cuts — like with a laser or like a scalpel. And what would take the waste — all the guts — and leave the nice, tender meat?" Sanchez says, as he nudges his old Ford through rutted trails, rosary beads swinging from his rearview mirror. "No tracks. No blood. No nothing. I got nothing to go by. They don't leave no trace."
Every rancher who has reported similar cattle deaths — and there have been at least eight such deaths in southern Colorado this year — uses the same description.
"They just stripped this one," says Tom Miller, who in March was one of three ranchers near Trinidad who discovered mutilated cattle.
Cow raises the alarm
One morning, he went out to his concrete troughs to feed his herd of about 80 red and black Angus cows and calves. The herd was racing about. A cow that a week before had birthed a calf was bellowing, "raising all kind of devil," Miller says.
There by the trough — past the locked gate a quarter-mile from U.S. 350 east of Hoehne — was the calf. Its front legs and torso were gone. Its back legs were hanging by hide to a shattered pelvis and a meatless backbone. Miller thought a pack of coyotes had torn into the calf the night before.
Then he saw the ears: sliced off the head in circular, surgical-like cuts. He noticed that there were no tracks. And no blood anywhere.
"If anyone can show me how this happened, I will believe them. I know it's not coyotes, especially in one night. Only a human or something like that can cut the ears like that," says Miller, a 72-year-old rancher who was raised on the prairie bordering the Purgatoire River.
"If it was done by people, they sure went out of their way to bother and confuse me. And really, why? It doesn't make any sense."
Mysteriously mangled
Colorado Brand Inspector Dennis Williams came out and looked at Miller's calf. He lives next door; the calf would be the last of three strangely mutilated cattle that he would investigate in March of this year.
"I've heard about it. It was weird, to say the least. Totally unexplainable. To me, it looked like that calf had been dropped from a high distance, the way its hips were dislocated and all its broken bones," Williams says.
That same month, ranchers had called Williams to grisly scenes northeast of Aguilar and west of Weston to investigate mysteriously mangled cattle that had been seen healthy the day before.
To add to the weirdness, Sanchez, Miller and Mike Duran, who found a sliced Red Angus cow near Weston in March, have all experienced similar mutilations before. Sanchez lost cows in 2006 and 1993, Miller in 1997 and 1980, and Duran in 2000 and 1995.
"It's weird and unexplainable," says Duran, who lost a healthy 27-year-old Red Angus cow on March 8, her udder and rear end removed with what he describes as "laser cuts, like when somebody cuts metal with a torch."
Cops, like Williams and the ranchers, are stumped.
"We can't come up with anything," says Las Animas County sheriff's Deputy Derek Navarette, who investigated the Miller and Duran calves.
"We've seen these before and they are all kind of the same. No one has ever explained it. Northern New Mexico has had some of these same cases, and in those cases they never got any further than we did."
Predators ruled out
Chuck Zukowski of Colorado Springs investigated three of the eight mutilated cows in southern Colorado this year. The amateur UFO investigator and reserve deputy in El Paso County documents each scene, testing for radiation and scanning carcasses with ultraviolet light.
Despite his extraterrestrial inclinations, Zukowski's studies — found on his ufonut.com website — fall short of concluding anything paranormal. He seems certain all the animals he studied were killed and drained before they were sliced, which explains the lack of blood found near the animals.
The way the tongues were sliced off in straight lines back behind the teeth indicates it is not a predator kill, he says.
"I'm looking for obvious things," Zukowski says. "I don't like to say aliens did it. There are just too many unknowns. I like to lean on human intervention until I actually see a UFO come down and take a cow."
Sanchez is a salt-of-the-earth-type fellow who put three kids through college running cattle. Yet, he says he and his wife marveled at incandescent blue lights hovering over a ridge near his pastures in July and August. He declined to speculate about the lights.
"I just say the truth and that's what I saw," he says.
Duran, on the other hand, is willing to take the next step. He's looked at it from every angle, he says. If it wasn't human and wasn't a predator, he says, there's only one other option.
"I do believe it was UFOs. This universe is so big, a lot of people think we are the only ones here," he says, declining to guess why aliens harbor such bloody disdain for bovines.
"I bet there is something out there."
A history of ghostly butchery
The "Phantom Surgeons of the Plains," as they are known, have been slicing up Colorado cattle for decades. From the late 1960s to this year, the bloodless, trackless and isolated scenes all have been the same: bovines with ears, genitals, tongues, organs and udders neatly removed.
Worldwide, the incidents number more than 10,000. Colorado seems especially plagued. In 1975, ranchers on the state's Eastern Plains, particularly around southern Elbert County, reported more than 200 mysteriously mutilated cattle.
Theories abound, with some pointing to animal-sacrificing cults and others suggesting secretive government experiments and even military-guided laser beams. The alien conspiracy theory blossomed when inexplicably gored cattle were found adjacent to pastures with crop circles in Alabama. Other cases in New Mexico and Colorado involve tripod imprints in a circular area near the carcasses, suggesting the involvement of an atypical aircraft. Countless ranchers report "strange lights" in the sky around the time they find their sliced cattle.
Despite the theories, no mutilation has ever been thoroughly explained.
Colorado's dalliances with mysteriously mangled animals began with a horse named Snippy in 1967. Found in a defleshed, bloodless heap with her brain missing and neck bones cleaned gleaming white in September 1967 north of Alamosa, the 3-year-old Appaloosa is considered the pioneer of the unexplained mutilation phenomenon. Since Snippy, the paranormal-rich San Luis Valley under the shadow of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range has hosted hundreds of unsolved livestock deaths.
Jason Blevins
See video at: http://www.denverpost.com/ci_13956752
(Submitted by Brian Chapman)
December 2009
SAN LUIS — Manuel Sanchez tucks his leathery hands into well-worn pockets and nods toward a cedar tree where, last month, he found his fourth mysteriously slaughtered calf in as many weeks.
"I have no idea what could do this. I wish I did," he says.
Four calves, all killed overnight. Their innards gone. Tongues sliced out. Udders carefully removed. Facial skin sliced and gone. Eyes cored away. Not a single track surrounding the carcasses, which were found in pastures locked behind two gates and a mile from any road. Not a drop of blood on the ground or even on the remaining skin.
In his life in the piñon-patched pastures where his father and grandfather raised cattle, the 72-year-old Sanchez has seen mountain lions and coyotes kill cattle, elk and deer. He's seen birds scavenge carcasses. He's heard of thieves slaughtering livestock in the field for their meat. He can't explain what he saw last month.
"A lion will drag its kill. Coyotes rip and tear flesh. These were perfect cuts — like with a laser or like a scalpel. And what would take the waste — all the guts — and leave the nice, tender meat?" Sanchez says, as he nudges his old Ford through rutted trails, rosary beads swinging from his rearview mirror. "No tracks. No blood. No nothing. I got nothing to go by. They don't leave no trace."
Every rancher who has reported similar cattle deaths — and there have been at least eight such deaths in southern Colorado this year — uses the same description.
"They just stripped this one," says Tom Miller, who in March was one of three ranchers near Trinidad who discovered mutilated cattle.
Cow raises the alarm
One morning, he went out to his concrete troughs to feed his herd of about 80 red and black Angus cows and calves. The herd was racing about. A cow that a week before had birthed a calf was bellowing, "raising all kind of devil," Miller says.
There by the trough — past the locked gate a quarter-mile from U.S. 350 east of Hoehne — was the calf. Its front legs and torso were gone. Its back legs were hanging by hide to a shattered pelvis and a meatless backbone. Miller thought a pack of coyotes had torn into the calf the night before.
Then he saw the ears: sliced off the head in circular, surgical-like cuts. He noticed that there were no tracks. And no blood anywhere.
"If anyone can show me how this happened, I will believe them. I know it's not coyotes, especially in one night. Only a human or something like that can cut the ears like that," says Miller, a 72-year-old rancher who was raised on the prairie bordering the Purgatoire River.
"If it was done by people, they sure went out of their way to bother and confuse me. And really, why? It doesn't make any sense."
Mysteriously mangled
Colorado Brand Inspector Dennis Williams came out and looked at Miller's calf. He lives next door; the calf would be the last of three strangely mutilated cattle that he would investigate in March of this year.
"I've heard about it. It was weird, to say the least. Totally unexplainable. To me, it looked like that calf had been dropped from a high distance, the way its hips were dislocated and all its broken bones," Williams says.
That same month, ranchers had called Williams to grisly scenes northeast of Aguilar and west of Weston to investigate mysteriously mangled cattle that had been seen healthy the day before.
To add to the weirdness, Sanchez, Miller and Mike Duran, who found a sliced Red Angus cow near Weston in March, have all experienced similar mutilations before. Sanchez lost cows in 2006 and 1993, Miller in 1997 and 1980, and Duran in 2000 and 1995.
"It's weird and unexplainable," says Duran, who lost a healthy 27-year-old Red Angus cow on March 8, her udder and rear end removed with what he describes as "laser cuts, like when somebody cuts metal with a torch."
Cops, like Williams and the ranchers, are stumped.
"We can't come up with anything," says Las Animas County sheriff's Deputy Derek Navarette, who investigated the Miller and Duran calves.
"We've seen these before and they are all kind of the same. No one has ever explained it. Northern New Mexico has had some of these same cases, and in those cases they never got any further than we did."
Predators ruled out
Chuck Zukowski of Colorado Springs investigated three of the eight mutilated cows in southern Colorado this year. The amateur UFO investigator and reserve deputy in El Paso County documents each scene, testing for radiation and scanning carcasses with ultraviolet light.
Despite his extraterrestrial inclinations, Zukowski's studies — found on his ufonut.com website — fall short of concluding anything paranormal. He seems certain all the animals he studied were killed and drained before they were sliced, which explains the lack of blood found near the animals.
The way the tongues were sliced off in straight lines back behind the teeth indicates it is not a predator kill, he says.
"I'm looking for obvious things," Zukowski says. "I don't like to say aliens did it. There are just too many unknowns. I like to lean on human intervention until I actually see a UFO come down and take a cow."
Sanchez is a salt-of-the-earth-type fellow who put three kids through college running cattle. Yet, he says he and his wife marveled at incandescent blue lights hovering over a ridge near his pastures in July and August. He declined to speculate about the lights.
"I just say the truth and that's what I saw," he says.
Duran, on the other hand, is willing to take the next step. He's looked at it from every angle, he says. If it wasn't human and wasn't a predator, he says, there's only one other option.
"I do believe it was UFOs. This universe is so big, a lot of people think we are the only ones here," he says, declining to guess why aliens harbor such bloody disdain for bovines.
"I bet there is something out there."
A history of ghostly butchery
The "Phantom Surgeons of the Plains," as they are known, have been slicing up Colorado cattle for decades. From the late 1960s to this year, the bloodless, trackless and isolated scenes all have been the same: bovines with ears, genitals, tongues, organs and udders neatly removed.
Worldwide, the incidents number more than 10,000. Colorado seems especially plagued. In 1975, ranchers on the state's Eastern Plains, particularly around southern Elbert County, reported more than 200 mysteriously mutilated cattle.
Theories abound, with some pointing to animal-sacrificing cults and others suggesting secretive government experiments and even military-guided laser beams. The alien conspiracy theory blossomed when inexplicably gored cattle were found adjacent to pastures with crop circles in Alabama. Other cases in New Mexico and Colorado involve tripod imprints in a circular area near the carcasses, suggesting the involvement of an atypical aircraft. Countless ranchers report "strange lights" in the sky around the time they find their sliced cattle.
Despite the theories, no mutilation has ever been thoroughly explained.
Colorado's dalliances with mysteriously mangled animals began with a horse named Snippy in 1967. Found in a defleshed, bloodless heap with her brain missing and neck bones cleaned gleaming white in September 1967 north of Alamosa, the 3-year-old Appaloosa is considered the pioneer of the unexplained mutilation phenomenon. Since Snippy, the paranormal-rich San Luis Valley under the shadow of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range has hosted hundreds of unsolved livestock deaths.
Jason Blevins
See video at: http://www.denverpost.com/ci_13956752
(Submitted by Brian Chapman)
Friday, November 27, 2009
No answers yet for calf mutilations near San Luis
November 26, 2009
UFO investigator finds similarities with San Luis and Trinidad incidents.
By MATT HILDNER
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN
SAN LUIS - A string of calf mutilations earlier this month have left a local rancher and law enforcement scratching their heads.
Rancher Manuel Sanchez has had four calves mutilated over a three-week span in a pasture he leases near Los Vallejos, just southeast of here, with the most recent victim coming on Nov. 16.
In each case, Sanchez found his calves with skin peeled back and organs cleaned out from the rib cage.
He found no signs of human attackers such as ATV tracks or footprints in the pasture that's guarded by two locked gates.
Nor did he find any evidence of animal predators such as a coyote or a mountain lion. There were no blood pools near the animals, or drag marks on the ground. "There's nothing really to go by," said Sanchez, who's ranched for nearly 50 years. "I can't figure it out."
Sgt. James Chavez, who serves as the public information officer for the Costilla County Sheriff's Office, said a deputy and an undersheriff went to the pasture to investigate one of the killings.
Chavez said the investigation revealed no indications of a predator attack and the lack of blood at the site made it highly unlikely that a person butchered it.
"I've butchered a cow before and I know what kind of a mess it leaves," he said.
Both Sanchez and Chavez think there have been other mutilations in the area that have gone unreported because of people's unwillingness to talk about something so mysterious.
Chavez, who's worked in Costilla County for five years, also investigated mutilations when he was a sheriff's deputy in Rio Grande County.
Neither of the men believe aliens were responsible for the attack.
But in the San Luis Valley, where a mutilated horse maintains celebrity status four decades after its death and a UFO watchtower graces the roadside near Hooper, some may look upward for an explanation of the incidents.
The day after Sanchez found his last calf mutilated, Chuck Zukowski came down from Colorado Springs to investigate.
Zukowski, who investigated three cattle mutilations in Huerfano and Las Animas counties in March, hopes to establish a link between cattle mutilations and the existence of UFOs.
But Zukowski's report, which is posted on his Web site, ufonut.com, does not reach that conclusion.
It does note, however, that the mutilation of Sanchez's last calf was similar to one found on Tom Miller's ranch near Trinidad.
The only differences were that Sanchez's calf was missing part of its tongue, while the Miller calf was missing both its ears.
Zukowski hopes to find a cow mutilation with more of the animal intact so he can send it to veterinary labs at Colorado State University for a necropsy.
"We're trying as much as we can to find a pattern," he said in a phone interview with The Chieftain.
In the meantime, Sanchez has sold off his 32 remaining calves out of fear more would get mutilated.
He has yet to decide how he'll manage the remaining 40 animals in his herd.
"It's a big loss for a small rancher," he said.
http://www.chieftain.com/articles/2009/11/26/news/local/doc4b0e0598ecb82177925756.txt
(Submitted by Brian Chapman)
UFO investigator finds similarities with San Luis and Trinidad incidents.
By MATT HILDNER
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN
SAN LUIS - A string of calf mutilations earlier this month have left a local rancher and law enforcement scratching their heads.
Rancher Manuel Sanchez has had four calves mutilated over a three-week span in a pasture he leases near Los Vallejos, just southeast of here, with the most recent victim coming on Nov. 16.
In each case, Sanchez found his calves with skin peeled back and organs cleaned out from the rib cage.
He found no signs of human attackers such as ATV tracks or footprints in the pasture that's guarded by two locked gates.
Nor did he find any evidence of animal predators such as a coyote or a mountain lion. There were no blood pools near the animals, or drag marks on the ground. "There's nothing really to go by," said Sanchez, who's ranched for nearly 50 years. "I can't figure it out."
Sgt. James Chavez, who serves as the public information officer for the Costilla County Sheriff's Office, said a deputy and an undersheriff went to the pasture to investigate one of the killings.
Chavez said the investigation revealed no indications of a predator attack and the lack of blood at the site made it highly unlikely that a person butchered it.
"I've butchered a cow before and I know what kind of a mess it leaves," he said.
Both Sanchez and Chavez think there have been other mutilations in the area that have gone unreported because of people's unwillingness to talk about something so mysterious.
Chavez, who's worked in Costilla County for five years, also investigated mutilations when he was a sheriff's deputy in Rio Grande County.
Neither of the men believe aliens were responsible for the attack.
But in the San Luis Valley, where a mutilated horse maintains celebrity status four decades after its death and a UFO watchtower graces the roadside near Hooper, some may look upward for an explanation of the incidents.
The day after Sanchez found his last calf mutilated, Chuck Zukowski came down from Colorado Springs to investigate.
Zukowski, who investigated three cattle mutilations in Huerfano and Las Animas counties in March, hopes to establish a link between cattle mutilations and the existence of UFOs.
But Zukowski's report, which is posted on his Web site, ufonut.com, does not reach that conclusion.
It does note, however, that the mutilation of Sanchez's last calf was similar to one found on Tom Miller's ranch near Trinidad.
The only differences were that Sanchez's calf was missing part of its tongue, while the Miller calf was missing both its ears.
Zukowski hopes to find a cow mutilation with more of the animal intact so he can send it to veterinary labs at Colorado State University for a necropsy.
"We're trying as much as we can to find a pattern," he said in a phone interview with The Chieftain.
In the meantime, Sanchez has sold off his 32 remaining calves out of fear more would get mutilated.
He has yet to decide how he'll manage the remaining 40 animals in his herd.
"It's a big loss for a small rancher," he said.
http://www.chieftain.com/articles/2009/11/26/news/local/doc4b0e0598ecb82177925756.txt
(Submitted by Brian Chapman)
No answers yet for calf mutilations near San Luis
November 26, 2009
UFO investigator finds similarities with San Luis and Trinidad incidents.
By MATT HILDNER
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN
SAN LUIS - A string of calf mutilations earlier this month have left a local rancher and law enforcement scratching their heads.
Rancher Manuel Sanchez has had four calves mutilated over a three-week span in a pasture he leases near Los Vallejos, just southeast of here, with the most recent victim coming on Nov. 16.
In each case, Sanchez found his calves with skin peeled back and organs cleaned out from the rib cage.
He found no signs of human attackers such as ATV tracks or footprints in the pasture that's guarded by two locked gates.
Nor did he find any evidence of animal predators such as a coyote or a mountain lion. There were no blood pools near the animals, or drag marks on the ground. "There's nothing really to go by," said Sanchez, who's ranched for nearly 50 years. "I can't figure it out."
Sgt. James Chavez, who serves as the public information officer for the Costilla County Sheriff's Office, said a deputy and an undersheriff went to the pasture to investigate one of the killings.
Chavez said the investigation revealed no indications of a predator attack and the lack of blood at the site made it highly unlikely that a person butchered it.
"I've butchered a cow before and I know what kind of a mess it leaves," he said.
Both Sanchez and Chavez think there have been other mutilations in the area that have gone unreported because of people's unwillingness to talk about something so mysterious.
Chavez, who's worked in Costilla County for five years, also investigated mutilations when he was a sheriff's deputy in Rio Grande County.
Neither of the men believe aliens were responsible for the attack.
But in the San Luis Valley, where a mutilated horse maintains celebrity status four decades after its death and a UFO watchtower graces the roadside near Hooper, some may look upward for an explanation of the incidents.
The day after Sanchez found his last calf mutilated, Chuck Zukowski came down from Colorado Springs to investigate.
Zukowski, who investigated three cattle mutilations in Huerfano and Las Animas counties in March, hopes to establish a link between cattle mutilations and the existence of UFOs.
But Zukowski's report, which is posted on his Web site, ufonut.com, does not reach that conclusion.
It does note, however, that the mutilation of Sanchez's last calf was similar to one found on Tom Miller's ranch near Trinidad.
The only differences were that Sanchez's calf was missing part of its tongue, while the Miller calf was missing both its ears.
Zukowski hopes to find a cow mutilation with more of the animal intact so he can send it to veterinary labs at Colorado State University for a necropsy.
"We're trying as much as we can to find a pattern," he said in a phone interview with The Chieftain.
In the meantime, Sanchez has sold off his 32 remaining calves out of fear more would get mutilated.
He has yet to decide how he'll manage the remaining 40 animals in his herd.
"It's a big loss for a small rancher," he said.
http://www.chieftain.com/articles/2009/11/26/news/local/doc4b0e0598ecb82177925756.txt
(Submitted by Brian Chapman)
UFO investigator finds similarities with San Luis and Trinidad incidents.
By MATT HILDNER
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN
SAN LUIS - A string of calf mutilations earlier this month have left a local rancher and law enforcement scratching their heads.
Rancher Manuel Sanchez has had four calves mutilated over a three-week span in a pasture he leases near Los Vallejos, just southeast of here, with the most recent victim coming on Nov. 16.
In each case, Sanchez found his calves with skin peeled back and organs cleaned out from the rib cage.
He found no signs of human attackers such as ATV tracks or footprints in the pasture that's guarded by two locked gates.
Nor did he find any evidence of animal predators such as a coyote or a mountain lion. There were no blood pools near the animals, or drag marks on the ground. "There's nothing really to go by," said Sanchez, who's ranched for nearly 50 years. "I can't figure it out."
Sgt. James Chavez, who serves as the public information officer for the Costilla County Sheriff's Office, said a deputy and an undersheriff went to the pasture to investigate one of the killings.
Chavez said the investigation revealed no indications of a predator attack and the lack of blood at the site made it highly unlikely that a person butchered it.
"I've butchered a cow before and I know what kind of a mess it leaves," he said.
Both Sanchez and Chavez think there have been other mutilations in the area that have gone unreported because of people's unwillingness to talk about something so mysterious.
Chavez, who's worked in Costilla County for five years, also investigated mutilations when he was a sheriff's deputy in Rio Grande County.
Neither of the men believe aliens were responsible for the attack.
But in the San Luis Valley, where a mutilated horse maintains celebrity status four decades after its death and a UFO watchtower graces the roadside near Hooper, some may look upward for an explanation of the incidents.
The day after Sanchez found his last calf mutilated, Chuck Zukowski came down from Colorado Springs to investigate.
Zukowski, who investigated three cattle mutilations in Huerfano and Las Animas counties in March, hopes to establish a link between cattle mutilations and the existence of UFOs.
But Zukowski's report, which is posted on his Web site, ufonut.com, does not reach that conclusion.
It does note, however, that the mutilation of Sanchez's last calf was similar to one found on Tom Miller's ranch near Trinidad.
The only differences were that Sanchez's calf was missing part of its tongue, while the Miller calf was missing both its ears.
Zukowski hopes to find a cow mutilation with more of the animal intact so he can send it to veterinary labs at Colorado State University for a necropsy.
"We're trying as much as we can to find a pattern," he said in a phone interview with The Chieftain.
In the meantime, Sanchez has sold off his 32 remaining calves out of fear more would get mutilated.
He has yet to decide how he'll manage the remaining 40 animals in his herd.
"It's a big loss for a small rancher," he said.
http://www.chieftain.com/articles/2009/11/26/news/local/doc4b0e0598ecb82177925756.txt
(Submitted by Brian Chapman)
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Investigating the Cattle Mutilation of March 2009 in Trinidad, Colorado
Denver Paranormal Science Examiner: Investigating the Cattle Mutilation of March 2009 in Trinidad, Colorado
Alejandro Rojas
April 12, 11:53 PM
Cattle Mutilation investigation continued...
On March 14th, we were able to get out to Trinidad and look at the animal. On the way to meet the rancher, Mike Duran, we stopped at a gas station in Trinidad, and the local paper had a front page story on the mutilation. After a long drive, I no longer needed the Monster to get me hyped up, the story was sufficient to make me feel like a Blues Brother, we were on a mission and ready to roll.
The location
When we got to the location, the first two things that caught my attention were how close the site was to the road, and how steep the path down to the creek side was.
Read full article at: http://www.examiner.com/x-7521-Denver-Paranormal-Science-Examiner~y2009m4d12-Investigating-the-cattle-mutilation-of-March-2009-in-Trinidad-Colorado
Posted using ShareThis
Alejandro Rojas
April 12, 11:53 PM
Cattle Mutilation investigation continued...
On March 14th, we were able to get out to Trinidad and look at the animal. On the way to meet the rancher, Mike Duran, we stopped at a gas station in Trinidad, and the local paper had a front page story on the mutilation. After a long drive, I no longer needed the Monster to get me hyped up, the story was sufficient to make me feel like a Blues Brother, we were on a mission and ready to roll.
The location
When we got to the location, the first two things that caught my attention were how close the site was to the road, and how steep the path down to the creek side was.
Read full article at: http://www.examiner.com/x-7521-Denver-Paranormal-Science-Examiner~y2009m4d12-Investigating-the-cattle-mutilation-of-March-2009-in-Trinidad-Colorado
Posted using ShareThis
Monday, April 13, 2009
Denver Paranormal Science Examiner: Cattle Mutilations, a homegrown Colorado phenomena
Denver Paranormal Science Examiner: Cattle Mutilations, a homegrown Colorado phenomenaI recently got to go on a cattle mutilation investigation, and was surprised to find that there are many who don’t know what a cattle mutilation is. When I tell them, some wished they had remained in the dark on this one. It is a bit unnerving.
First, some background, the first publicized case of a strange cattle mutilation was outside of Alamosa, Colorado in 1967. This is right in the heart of the mysterious San Luis valley (more on this in an upcoming article). An appaloosa horse named Lady was found by its owner with the head and neck skinned and defleshed. The bones where white and clean, and there was a lack of blood in the area. The lacerations were cauterized as if a laser scalpel were used according to a pathologist out of Denver. No satisfactory explanation has ever been found as to how or why this animal was killed.
Since this incident researchers have claimed that there have been hundreds of these mysterious mutilations of cattle. Although Lady was a horse, most mutilations have been conducted on cows. Typically sex organs, utters, an eye or two, and the tongue are taken. There is usually a lack of blood on the scene and scavengers that would normally pounce on a free meal like this in seconds avoid these bizarre carcasses.
Why is this happening and by whom?
Some believe it is a secret military project to test toxicity in these animals. But, if that is the case, why be so secretive about it? Why not just purchase the animals? Others of course believe it is done by Extraterrestrials. Often UFOs are sighted near the area the mutilations take place. In fact that was the case in the investigation I recently took part in. However, why would an ET mutilate a cow? And, why would they return it?
Recent Colorado Mutilations
In the next few stories I will let you in on the mutilation I was able to help investigate this past month. I'll go over the typoes of evidence we look for and why. We will also explore some ideas of what might be happening, and I will keep you up to date on any developments in our investigation.
For now you can read the story in the link below to a mutilation that happened near Rush, Colorado in 2006. The rancher, like the one I will be telling you about in the mutilation I investigated, believed it was done by extraterrestrials. I have also included a link to more information on the case in 1967 I reffered to above.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Reward offered in cattle mutilation cases
Story By: Bea Karnes
Source: KOAA
Published Tue Mar 31, 2009, 10:59 AM MDT
Three cows have been found dead in Southern Colorado this month, all mutilated. The Humane Society of the United States is now offering a reward of up to $2,500 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible.
“Those who abuse animals can be dangerous to people,” said Holly Tarry, The HSUS’ Colorado state director. “Americans have no tolerance for violence against the creatures who share our world.”
According tot he Humane Society, the connection between animal cruelty and human violence is well documented. Studies show a correlation between animal cruelty and all manner of other crimes, from narcotics and firearms violations to battery and sexual assault.
If you have information on these cases, contact the Las Animas County Sheriff's Office at 719-846-2211.
http://www.koaa.com/aaaa_top_stories/x300750512/Reward-offerd-in-cattle-mutilation-cases
Source: KOAA
Published Tue Mar 31, 2009, 10:59 AM MDT
Three cows have been found dead in Southern Colorado this month, all mutilated. The Humane Society of the United States is now offering a reward of up to $2,500 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible.
“Those who abuse animals can be dangerous to people,” said Holly Tarry, The HSUS’ Colorado state director. “Americans have no tolerance for violence against the creatures who share our world.”
According tot he Humane Society, the connection between animal cruelty and human violence is well documented. Studies show a correlation between animal cruelty and all manner of other crimes, from narcotics and firearms violations to battery and sexual assault.
If you have information on these cases, contact the Las Animas County Sheriff's Office at 719-846-2211.
http://www.koaa.com/aaaa_top_stories/x300750512/Reward-offerd-in-cattle-mutilation-cases
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Two more cows found mutilated
Published: March 25, 2009 12:18 am
Trinidad and Walsenburg ranchers find dead cow, calf.
By ANTHONYA. MESTAS
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN
Two more Southern Colorado ranchers say they have discovered cows mutilated under strange circumstances.
A cow on a ranch near Walsenburg was found with its udders cut off and a calf on a ranch near Trinidad was found missing the entire center of its body as well as its ears.
A similar mutilation was discovered March 8 on a pasture near the Purgatoire River, just west of the small town of Weston. That cow was found dead by rancher Mike Duran with its udders and reproductive organs surgically removed from its body.
The most recent case happened on Jim Garren's ranch.
Garren said Tuesday that he last saw his cow alive on Friday afternoon at his spread 12 miles southeast of Walsenburg in Las Animas County. Garren said the next day at around 2:30 p.m. his ranch manager was feeding the herd and noticed his cattle count was off by one. After looking around in areas where cows had grazed previously, Garren said his ranch hand spotted the animal dead under a cedar tree.
"The only thing that we could tell about her was that her udder had been surgically removed. There were no other injuries to that cow," Garren said.
He said the ground around the cow was never disturbed and there was no trauma to the cow's head or body.
"We searched and searched and we could not find blood on the ground or on the cow. I just can't understand how anyone could surgically remove a part from an animal and not spill some blood," he said.
Garren said that while doing a quick walk around looking for evidence on Saturday, his staff spotted the cow's newborn calf.
Garren said the calf had to have been born at least 10 hours before the mother cow was killed.
"You know I just can't explain this. I've had animals killed on my ranch by mountain lions before and coyotes, but nothing like this. It is truly strange.
"I don't see how any human could have possibly done this without leaving footprints or some prints where the cow may have struggled. It looks like she just laid down and died," Garren said.
Rancher Tom Miller, who runs 80 head of cattle about 14 miles east of Trinidad on U.S. 350, found one of his calves dead near a feed tub on March 17. He found it in an area where cows congregate to eat twice daily.
Miller said that the herd appeared normal the day before in the late afternoon when the animals were being fed by the ranchers. The calf was found the next morning roughly 5 feet from a feed tub laying dead with only its spinal column, head and legs left behind.
"It's the strangest thing I've ever seen," Miller said.
Miller said the only thing holding the calve's back legs to the body was the hide.
"I cut the hide and the legs just fell off. All the bones were broken. It was just strange," Miller said. "An animal just doesn't clean out a carcass like that in one night. It would take several days to do something like that."
Miller said about 10 years ago he found another one of his cows mutilated. That cow had its ears, tongue, eyes and reproductive organs removed.
In 1995, Duran said he found a cow that had been mutilated on his property in a similar way.
The mutilations never have been solved.
"I really don't know what it is. I think maybe it was a UFO. According to the circumstances, that is what it seems like," Miller said.
Miller said it would be too difficult for a human to take a calf away from its mother cow.
"The cows are too protective. If you went for a calf, the cow would be on top of you.
"There are just too many strange things here," Miller said.
Chuck Zukowski, an independent UFO investigator from Colorado Springs, has investigated all three cattle mutilations in the area.
"These mutilations have the tendency of happening a few at a time. So it is not uncommon that there are three here this month," Zukowski said.
Zukowski, who has been a UFO and cow mutilation investigator for more than 20 years, said that all three cases fit the criteria to be called an unknown phenomenon.
"These two cows and this calf do not fit the norm of a normal death or a predator death. This is the first thing we look at," Zukowski said.
In all three cases, Zukowski said there was no blood around the cattle where they laid.
"If a predator got to these cattle, there would be blood around somewhere, " he said.
Sightings of UFOs and strange, unmarked, black helicopters sometimes coincide with most cattle mutilation cases across the country.
Zukowski said that the night Miller lost his calf, he received a report of a dark triangular craft flying over Colorado Springs.
"A witness told me that the craft was coming from the southeast. That means it was coming from the Walsenburg/Trinidad area. We are in the process of trying to understand how fast this object was going to see if it could have been in that area," Zukowski said.
"It's a big speculation and we are trying to grasp at straws, but we are trying to find anything we can to relate these occurrences."
Zukowski said that whatever killed the cow and removed the udders on Garren's ranch was not interested in a newborn calf.
"Would a predator attack a 1,200 pound animal for food, when a newborn calf lay helplessly 50 feet away?" Zukowski asked.
Zukowski also is a member of the Mutual UFO Network, an international nonprofit group that investigates UFOs and other strange phenomena for the public.
"I am the biggest skeptic to start with on these cases. I need to be sure before I start saying what I think it is.
"I can tell you that it is very strange and doesn't seem possible by humans," Zukowski said.
The thousands of reported cattle mutilations in the United States and around the world have spawned theories about aliens sent to Earth to slice up cows.
The phenomena in Colorado began in the late 1960s when farmers in the San Luis Valley began reporting mutilated cattle and horses, Zukowski said.
The circumstances surrounding cattle mutilations were different than anything the local authorities had ever investigated. At the time, satanic cults were blamed.
Reports of cattle mutilations spread throughout the Midwest and even into Canada. Paranoia and speculation about the deaths ran rampant.
"All these years later not one person has been prosecuted for this. We don't know what has killed these animals," Zukowski said.
"Hopefully we can find out what happened, but it doesn't look too promising. This is not something we are used to," Garren said.
"I really hope somebody can figure out what is happening to these things. It's scary," Miller said.
http://www.chieftain.com/articles/2009/03/25/news/region/doc49c9c77fd52be237541343.txt
Trinidad and Walsenburg ranchers find dead cow, calf.
By ANTHONYA. MESTAS
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN
Two more Southern Colorado ranchers say they have discovered cows mutilated under strange circumstances.
A cow on a ranch near Walsenburg was found with its udders cut off and a calf on a ranch near Trinidad was found missing the entire center of its body as well as its ears.
A similar mutilation was discovered March 8 on a pasture near the Purgatoire River, just west of the small town of Weston. That cow was found dead by rancher Mike Duran with its udders and reproductive organs surgically removed from its body.
The most recent case happened on Jim Garren's ranch.
Garren said Tuesday that he last saw his cow alive on Friday afternoon at his spread 12 miles southeast of Walsenburg in Las Animas County. Garren said the next day at around 2:30 p.m. his ranch manager was feeding the herd and noticed his cattle count was off by one. After looking around in areas where cows had grazed previously, Garren said his ranch hand spotted the animal dead under a cedar tree.
"The only thing that we could tell about her was that her udder had been surgically removed. There were no other injuries to that cow," Garren said.
He said the ground around the cow was never disturbed and there was no trauma to the cow's head or body.
"We searched and searched and we could not find blood on the ground or on the cow. I just can't understand how anyone could surgically remove a part from an animal and not spill some blood," he said.
Garren said that while doing a quick walk around looking for evidence on Saturday, his staff spotted the cow's newborn calf.
Garren said the calf had to have been born at least 10 hours before the mother cow was killed.
"You know I just can't explain this. I've had animals killed on my ranch by mountain lions before and coyotes, but nothing like this. It is truly strange.
"I don't see how any human could have possibly done this without leaving footprints or some prints where the cow may have struggled. It looks like she just laid down and died," Garren said.
Rancher Tom Miller, who runs 80 head of cattle about 14 miles east of Trinidad on U.S. 350, found one of his calves dead near a feed tub on March 17. He found it in an area where cows congregate to eat twice daily.
Miller said that the herd appeared normal the day before in the late afternoon when the animals were being fed by the ranchers. The calf was found the next morning roughly 5 feet from a feed tub laying dead with only its spinal column, head and legs left behind.
"It's the strangest thing I've ever seen," Miller said.
Miller said the only thing holding the calve's back legs to the body was the hide.
"I cut the hide and the legs just fell off. All the bones were broken. It was just strange," Miller said. "An animal just doesn't clean out a carcass like that in one night. It would take several days to do something like that."
Miller said about 10 years ago he found another one of his cows mutilated. That cow had its ears, tongue, eyes and reproductive organs removed.
In 1995, Duran said he found a cow that had been mutilated on his property in a similar way.
The mutilations never have been solved.
"I really don't know what it is. I think maybe it was a UFO. According to the circumstances, that is what it seems like," Miller said.
Miller said it would be too difficult for a human to take a calf away from its mother cow.
"The cows are too protective. If you went for a calf, the cow would be on top of you.
"There are just too many strange things here," Miller said.
Chuck Zukowski, an independent UFO investigator from Colorado Springs, has investigated all three cattle mutilations in the area.
"These mutilations have the tendency of happening a few at a time. So it is not uncommon that there are three here this month," Zukowski said.
Zukowski, who has been a UFO and cow mutilation investigator for more than 20 years, said that all three cases fit the criteria to be called an unknown phenomenon.
"These two cows and this calf do not fit the norm of a normal death or a predator death. This is the first thing we look at," Zukowski said.
In all three cases, Zukowski said there was no blood around the cattle where they laid.
"If a predator got to these cattle, there would be blood around somewhere, " he said.
Sightings of UFOs and strange, unmarked, black helicopters sometimes coincide with most cattle mutilation cases across the country.
Zukowski said that the night Miller lost his calf, he received a report of a dark triangular craft flying over Colorado Springs.
"A witness told me that the craft was coming from the southeast. That means it was coming from the Walsenburg/Trinidad area. We are in the process of trying to understand how fast this object was going to see if it could have been in that area," Zukowski said.
"It's a big speculation and we are trying to grasp at straws, but we are trying to find anything we can to relate these occurrences."
Zukowski said that whatever killed the cow and removed the udders on Garren's ranch was not interested in a newborn calf.
"Would a predator attack a 1,200 pound animal for food, when a newborn calf lay helplessly 50 feet away?" Zukowski asked.
Zukowski also is a member of the Mutual UFO Network, an international nonprofit group that investigates UFOs and other strange phenomena for the public.
"I am the biggest skeptic to start with on these cases. I need to be sure before I start saying what I think it is.
"I can tell you that it is very strange and doesn't seem possible by humans," Zukowski said.
The thousands of reported cattle mutilations in the United States and around the world have spawned theories about aliens sent to Earth to slice up cows.
The phenomena in Colorado began in the late 1960s when farmers in the San Luis Valley began reporting mutilated cattle and horses, Zukowski said.
The circumstances surrounding cattle mutilations were different than anything the local authorities had ever investigated. At the time, satanic cults were blamed.
Reports of cattle mutilations spread throughout the Midwest and even into Canada. Paranoia and speculation about the deaths ran rampant.
"All these years later not one person has been prosecuted for this. We don't know what has killed these animals," Zukowski said.
"Hopefully we can find out what happened, but it doesn't look too promising. This is not something we are used to," Garren said.
"I really hope somebody can figure out what is happening to these things. It's scary," Miller said.
http://www.chieftain.com/articles/2009/03/25/news/region/doc49c9c77fd52be237541343.txt
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)