The Unexplainable

If I could catch the perpetrator, he would be charged with felony criminal mischief.

Yet, I knew I wouldn’t catch him and neither would the sheriff.

Nobody has solved cases like this since a rush of reports surfaced back in the 1970s.

Spoiler alert: The rest of this story is gruesome and graphic.

Some of my yearlings graze a pasture that is about three-quarters of a mile away from the county road, behind two gates.

One of those gates is locked.

I check on them every other day to be sure the solar water pump is functioning and that all of them are there.

Last time I checked on them, I was frustrated that the float was malfunctioning and, worse, one yearling was missing.

If several yearlings are missing, they are probably on a walkabout. If one is missing, it is probably dead.

Six ravens flew up from their perch on some old grain bins and gave away the steer’s location.

I cussed and walked over to determine the cause of death.

The steer lay on his side with his hide neatly cut away from his jaw, anus, penis, and chest. One ear was cut off.

No sign of struggle, bullet hole, grizzly bites or another cause of death.

Blood pooled in various cavities, but none on the ground near the cuts.

I had heard about cattle mutilations, but I had never seen one.

Until now.

I called my partner, Erik.

Then I texted the sheriff and my veterinarian.

Then I talked to Mike Hoggan, the retired Wildlife Services trapper and predator expert who has investigated numerous cattle mutilation cases since the 1990s.

Erik and I met the deputy and led him to the steer.

The deputy said all cattle mutilations are similar – always in remote areas, without a determinable cause of death, and without any evidence of a vehicle driving to the site.

The hide is always cut precisely, with precise edges impossible for a predator or bird to make.

Mike asked me to describe the incisions. I texted photos to him.

Mike said most cattle mutilations are similar – one ear and the tongue neatly sliced off and the reproductive organs are often removed. Usually the heart is gone, too.

Nobody can definitively explain who or what made the incisions and removed the organs.

Some people blame aliens.

Some convict black helicopters.

Everyone agrees that a human could not perform this without leaving evidence.

Coincidentally, often random people report seeing a bright light flying low across the night sky about the same time and near where a mutilation occurred.

For years, media outlets reported cattle mutilations, police investigated, and a skeptical public laughed.

Now, many people are afraid to sound like a crazy person so they don’t talk about it.

Yet, the sheriff said these mutilations occur across the U.S. and even internationally.

About six weeks ago, a cow was mutilated near Sunburst.

About two months ago, another occurred near Dupuyer.

Both cases are within 100 miles of mine.

Mike reminded me that he had investigated a calf mutilation on my ranch years ago, before I owned it.

We agreed that the steer had been dead for probably two days – killed the night after I had last checked.

My veterinarian said the steer had decomposed in the heat of the last two days so an autopsy probably would not reveal much.

We all could see evidence on the hide, but I had to know whether the heart was gone, too.

I rolled up my sleeves and pushed my hand through the hole in the chest.

I felt the ribs and mush.

No heart.

This case won’t be solved.

I won’t recoup my $4000.

But I won’t pretend the unexplainable did not happen.