Colorado Cattle Mutilation 12/13/15
On Sunday December 13th, I was contacted by the Miller Ranch near Trinidad, Colorado, about a possible cattle mutilation. Two 1100 pound female Red Angus’s went missing, one was found dead with unusual wounds and the other was found alive, but with internal injuries. Due to the conditions of both animals, the rancher decided to investigate further to determine if in fact a mutilation had taken place. The following couple of days after the 13th, the rancher and I stayed in contact trading information. After December 15th the rancher informed me that he had to put the second animal down due to its injuries.
The following is my investigation.
On December 13th after the rancher counted his herd of roughly 60 animals, he found that two were missing, both females possibly pregnant. After searching an area where the herd was last seen, he found one animal dead lying on it’s right side with unusual cuts and the second animal about 30 feet away lying on its right side, struggling to get up. Both animals were at the bottom of a small steep-sided gully or arroyo. Having had multiple mutilations in the past, the rancher was suspicious of both animal’s conditions.
Animal 1, the dead one, had flesh removed around the jaw, the tongue was missing, the left eye and socket had been cut out, the left ear had been cleanly cored away, there was a gaping hole in the neck area down through the shoulder showing separated ribs from the back bone, the left shoulder was contorted and out of place as if the animal had been dropped, the udder was cut out, and the anal area was cored out too!
Note: No mass amounts of blood were originally seen by the rancher around the gaping hole in the neck down to the body cavity, just a massive open wound.
Animal 2, the alive one, showed no apparent physical damage, but couldn’t stand up due to some type of internal physical injury. After moving the animal a short distance trying to get it to walk and caring for it, the decision was made to end the animal’s suffering by using a 22 caliber gunshot to the head.
The rancher exhausted all possibilities of Animal 1’s death including falling the short distance into the gully area, and the damage being done by scavengers, before the decision was made to contact me again about a possible mutilation. At that point in time, the animal had been dead too long for any type of sample taking, so a decision was made to perform an experiment.
This is what we know:
– We know both animals went missing the same time.
– We know one animal was found dead with unusual damage resembling the standard mutilation scenario.
– We know one animal was found alive nearby with some type of internal injuries.
– We know the approximate death of both animals, Animal 1 around 12/12 and Animal 2 on 12/15.
– Animal location, 37 degree latitude.
The Experiment:
If Animal 1 had died of natural causes and the unknown strange damage was due to scavengers, then we could use Animal 2 as a test case and see if similar damage appears due to scavenging. The decision was made to wait until after Christmas giving us 15 days after Animal 2 was put down and run a comparison analysis between the two animals. Here are the results.
Investigation 12/30/15:
UFOnut Team Member Matt Morgan at Mute site.
12/30/15: Investigative team member Matt Morgan and I drove from Colorado Springs to Trinidad, Colorado, and met with rancher Miller.
Animal 1 possible mutilation found 12/13/15:
– 1100 pound Red Angus (female)
– Animal lying on right side facing North to South.
– No traces of radiation.
– Constant 8 to 10 microtesla reading pinging highly in abdominal area.
– Magnetic sweep showed nothing.
– No signs of struggle in soil.
Animal 1 Damage:
– Missing eye and surrounding area of socket.
– Missing tongue.
– Large smooth cut around jaw line.
– Left ear cut out in circular fashion.
– Open cavity wound neck to mid-section displaying neck and back bone and ribs.
– Ribs cage separated from back bone.
– Left front leg twisted at shoulder bone.
– Missing udder section.
– 8 inch hole in anal area.
Animal 2 put down by rancher on 12/15/15:
– 1100 pound Red Angus (female)
– Original location 30 feet south from Animal 1 facing East to West, lying on right side.
– Animal appeared to have internal injuries, signs of struggling.
– New location, 25 feet north of Animal 1 lying on left side.
– Animal died by 22 gunshot wound to the head.
– Blood seeping through open mouth.
– No traces of radiation.
– Sporadic 8 to 10 microtesla reading pinging low in abdominal area.
– Magnetic sweep showed nothing.
Animal 2 Damage:
– Scavenger damage seen around mouth where blood was seeping, non-smooth chewed bite marks.
– No other damage seen.
Comparison Analysis:
Animal 1: Missing eye, eye socket cored out,
missing tongue, smooth cut around jaw line and missing ear (not shown).
Animal 2: Eye and ear present, scavenger chewing around mouth.
Animal 1: Flesh stripped from neck behind ear to mid section
exposing rib cage.
Animal 1: Rib cage separated from back bone.
Animal 2: No damage to neck.
Animal 1: Udder cut out, anal cored out.
Animal 2: Udder still present, anal area intact.
Investigative Conclusions:
- Animal 1 and Animal 2 shared similar abrasions around the jaw area. Comparing the two, more intense precise cuts were noticed on Animal 1 when the rancher originally found it compared to Animal 2’s scavenger gnawing fifteen days after being put down.
- Animal 1’s rib cage was separated from the back bone. Upon closer examination, a large rock was lying beneath the animal’s back bone and could have caused the rib separation but only due to traumatic blunt force against the rock. This could only have happened if the animal was dropped from a great height.
- Animal 1 had shown no signs of struggle, no dirt scuff marks, and no vegetation damage was seen due to falling or rolling down the slight incline. The animal appeared to have been placed there.
Animal 2: At this time the animal’s internal injury is unknown. Was it part of the event Animal 1 was subjected to but survived with injuries? Due to the circumstances and out-of-pocket expenses, a veterinarian was not contacted to run a necropsy. As the animal deteriorates, the rancher will keep an eye on the carcass and look for any internal bone damage that the animal may have originally sustained.
Interesting Information:
On December 21st KWCH News 12 out of Kansas, reported a Newton, Kansas rancher found one of his bulls dead a quarter of a mile into his pasture on the 18th. The animal’s sex organs had been removed. The Harvey County Sheriff’s department investigated the incident and found no traces of cause of death and is classifying this as an Animal Cruelty case or non animal related.
On January 2nd, 2016, the Harvey County Sheriff’s department’s Facebook page stated another cow has been found dead in McPherson County, Kansas, its eyeballs had been removed. The owner of the cow had told KSN news Kansas, that the veterinarian who performed a necropsy found an injection site.
I’ll try to get more info on both mutilation cases.
The 37th Parallel Theory:
Trinidad, Colorado’s mutilation sits right on the 37th degree latitude, Newton County, Kansas mutilation falls within the 37 degree latitude, and the McPherson County, Kansas mutilation falls just into 38 degrees latitude. These mutilations appear to have been heading East along the 37th Parallel.
Category: Cattle Mutilations, Cattle Mutilations, Investigations
