Cattle Mutilation, Trinidad, Colorado 08/08/2011
Monday morning August 8th, 2011, I was contacted by rancher Miller from Trinidad, Colorado. He informed me that one of his cows had been mutilated over the past weekend. I had investigated one of his previous mutilated cows back on March of 2009. This rancher has had three separate mutilation cases.
The following are my notes from my field investigation.
Disclaimer: Caution some pictures attached to this blog may be disturbing.
Field Investigator: Chuck Zukowski, Colorado Springs, Co
Location of Mutilation: Trinidad, Colorado
Mutilation occurred sometime Friday August 5th or Saturday August 6th.
Found by non-owner rancher on Sunday August 7th.
Rancher Miller was informed on Sunday while out of town, saw the animal for the first time on Monday August 8th.
Rancher contacted me on Monday morning August 8th.
Field investigation took place on Monday afternoon August 8th, roughly 2:30pm.
Las Animas County Sheriff deputy investigated animal August 8, 2011
(no case report was given to rancher at time of investigation, I will contact the department)
Investigative Notes:
Radiation Check: none detected
EMF (Electro-Magnetic-Field) detection: 8-10 micro-tesla
Magnetic Sweep: no metallic’s detected
The animal did not have a magnet in her stomach
Animal was pointing head first 60 degrees N/E
Animal Statistics:
Breed: Red Angus
Sex: female
Age: 5 years old
Length: estimated 8feet 11 inches from nose to hind
Girth: estimated 9 feet round
Weight: estimated 1000+ pounds
Oval hole where ear used to be
Oval hole at utter, teats were cored out.
Oval hole at anal area. Discolored soil is due to fluid oozing.
Mutilation wounds visible on left side:
Laceration on nose
Laceration around left eye
Oval hole where left ear used to be. 7 inches by 4 inches
Tongue appears to be removed
Oval hole between forelegs. 12 inches by 7.5 inches
Oval hole at location of utter. 6 inches by 4 inches
Two oval holes where utter teats appeared to be. 1×1 inch
Long laceration between rear legs to utter. 18 inches x 4 inches
Oval hole near anal area. 8.5 inches by 6 inches
Animal was too heavy to roll over by me and rancher so right side of animal was unseen.
Predator evidence: none
Scavenger evidence: birds only
Flies present
Normal smell for two day old carcass
No evidence of struggle on dirt
No evidence of human intervention causing animal’s death
Evidence of bloating
Evidence of out-gassing
Rancher’s dog was sick after interacting with carcass day before, but appears fine during investigation.
Samples Taken:
Tissue sample taken along edge of oval hole near anal area
Tissue sample taken along edge of oval hole near utter area
Tissue sample taken along edge of oval hole between front forelegs
Soil sample taken near carcass, test sample taken 50 feet away at similar terrain
Ear tag from missing ear left side
Action Items:
The three tissue samples will be sent to Colorado State University Veterinary Lab, Fort Collins, for analysis.
– Tissue analysis will be determined by samples when received
The soil samples will be sent to a soil analysis lab I work with. (Name on file and not revealed, per lab’s request)
– Soil analysis will be a comparison analysis looking for any differences between the two.
Conclusion:
Unfortunately I was unable to take this animal to the lab for a complete necropsy. There are a few factors which can stand in the way to achieve this. One, time accrued of deceased animal. Two, distance to the lab. Three, proper specimen to achieve complete necropsy for proper analysis.
As information on current mutilation cases become more available to the public, the public in turn, knows who to contact when a new mutilation occurs. This hand-shake of information going back and forth from investigator to the public, will ultimately achieve our goals of finding the evidence we need to resolve these cases.
Chuck Zukowski
Category: Cattle Mutilations, Chuck Zukowski, gore, Investigations, The Z-Files
