Cattle Mutilations Return in Oregon

Less than two years after the last in a string of cattle mutilations was discovered on a ranch in central Oregon, another string of similar deaths in the same area has left authorities puzzled.

Like those killed in 2019, the latest bovine victims have been found missing various body parts and with very little blood left at the scene.

According to The Bulletin, this string of mutilations began on February 27th, when Crook County Sheriff's Office deputy Scott Durr was dispatched to 96 Ranch on SE Van Lake Road in central Oregon to investigate a suspicious death on the property. Ranch owner Rickey Shannon said one of his cows had been discovered dead two days earlier about 200 yards from the road, near the edge of a field and some juniper trees, with an unusual incision along its spine.

No predators or birds had touched the cow, according to Shannon, who lives on the ranch with his two sons.

The cow's left cheek, tongue, and three of its teats appeared to have been cut cleanly away, although its eyes, often the first body part to be scavenged after an animal dies, had been left alone. There were no bullet holes—a metal detector was even used to confirm that the cow had not been shot—nor were there tracks, either animal or vehicle, or blood surrounding the dead cow.

Then, on March 4th, Casey Thomas, manager of the GI Ranch on Lister Road in Paulina, reported the unusual death of one of his herd.

Crook County detective Javier Sanchez responded to the scene and found a deceased cow missing all four of its udders; its left cheek, tongue, and sex organs had also been removed. In his report, Sanchez wrote that between the front legs an uneven patch of hair was missing and in the middle was a prick mark.

The following day, Crook County Sheriff's Office deputy Sergeant Timothy Durheim responded to a report of a "wolf kill" at the McCormack Ranch on SE Bear Creek Road, although it was quickly apparent that the deceased cow had not been killed by any wolf.

Again, the animal was missing soft tissue; its left cheek, left eye, tongue, and one udder had been removed, its anus cored out, and its reproductive organs excised without puncturing its gut.

Several straight incisions were also noted by Durheim, along with a puncture wound between the neck and shoulder. He did not, however, find any bite marks.

“Again, I noted straight, clean incisions where the cheek had been,” wrote Durheim in his case report. “There were no apparent animal or human tracks immediately surrounding the carcass, and only minimal blood in the area. I know from personal experience that if an animal is killed or scavenged by predators, there is typically a large bloody messy area surrounding the carcass.”

On March 6th, only two days after he had first reported a suspicious cattle death to the police, Casey Thomas alerted the authorities to another dead cow on his property. This cow was more badly decomposed than the last, but exhibited some of the same abnormalities, including its left cheek having been removed and a two-inch patch which had been cut out of the hair on its neck.

Photos of the dead cows were taken by detectives to Prineville veterinarian Dr. Taylor Karlin, who agreed that the deaths appeared unnatural. Her opinion was included in a search warrant request filed in the case to scan for cell phone activity near where the cows were found.

Karlin has performed many post-mortem examinations on deceased livestock, and has agreed to perform an appropriate necropsy on any fresh specimens which may subsequently be found.

“I wish I had an answer,” she said of the deaths. “We’re kind of at a loss.”

Charges in the animal deaths could include trespassing, aggravated animal abuse, and criminal mischief, although Crook County Sheriff John Gautney admitted that so far his office has no leads. Despite that, Gautney said, there's "no reason to panic."

“We’ve had cases like this over the years,” he said. “They seem to come in groups and then go away. We are not speculating on how these are happening, as we try to keep an open mind and look at all possibilities.”

The deaths of these cattle are part of a much larger phenomenon involving thousands of livestock deaths and mutilations that have been reported since the 1970s. The mysterious deaths and mutilations were so prolific at one point that they even drew the attention of the FBI. The reports are eerily similar, sharing the grotesque details of missing body parts and a conspicuous lack of blood. Explanations for the deaths range from mundane illnesses to satanic cults to extraterrestrials, but so far they remain a mystery. Missing body parts are sometimes explained away by skeptics as the result of scavengers, although investigators often point to the clean, precise incisions and lack of blood present as evidence to the contrary.

The FBI in Oregon has been receiving inquiries about cattle mutilations in the state since last year, but Beth Anne Steele, spokesperson for the FBI Portland office, said that the office does not have a current role in the investigations surrounding these events.

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