Not precisely without marks, since the genitals and tongues were removed with a sharp instrument. But no bullet wounds, no blood on the ground, no tracks on the ground, and no sign of any interference with the corpses by scavengers larger than insects. Similar cases apparently go back to the 1980’s.
I am assuming this is the result of human action, and I am leaving aside speculations about why anyone would do this.
I can imagine a scenario where the bull (the recent ones are all breeding bulls, apparently) is knocked out with a tranquilizer gun and picked up in a large truck, with a winching apparatus. The bull is then mutilated and allowed to bleed out, maybe in the truck, or at any rate, at some location other than where it is eventually found. I’m not so good at imagining how they managed to drop the carcass without leaving any tracks, although I suppose there are ways of erasing one’s tracks in the dust. Or I suppose they could have used a helicopter but that seems unlikely.
That country is so rugged and forsaken. Hard to imagine how equipment/vehicles could gain access without being seen by others (strangers would stick out like a sore thumb) or leaving any sign.
And to what purpose? If the perpetrator(s) just want to eliminate the breeding stock, why not just shoot them?
What’s the point of taking various body parts and bleeding the animals – but without leaving the blood?
Truly bizarre. I’ve no answers, but I’ll be thinking about it.
I think the soft tissue is being eaten by animals not strong enough to break through the hide, possibly skunks, badgers, opossums etc. It wasn’t just the tongues that were removed it was also the lips and soft facial tissue. Very often the anus is also eaten. Why they died I have no speculation other than some kind of natural cause. Maybe coyotes have learned to pursue them until they are exhausted and then just start ripping at the soft tissue. The bulls usually lack the protection of the herd that steers and cows might enjoy. It is not uncommon for wild dogs to rip at the genitals until an animal collapses.
Yeah, 'coz lifelong cattle ranchers have never seen an animal brought down by coyotes and wouldn’t recognize one if they ran across it.
I’ve had livestock taken by coyotes. Nothing surgical or bloodless about it. Carcasses are usually torn to pieces.
Also, natural causes? I’d buy that if it were one animal, possibly two. But five? And all bulls, all prime breeding stock? That’s stretching it a bit. More than a bit.
This is an interesting reaction, considering that law enforcement is involved and has (presumably) seen the carcasses, as have multiple other people. Do you have any explanation why all those people would report the same thing, inaccurately?
I don’t know what they reported. I assume whoever gave this information to NPR was inaccurate in their account, or maybe someone who gave it to them.
When you say they all report the same thing then that is a sign of fakery, people don’t report the same thing like that, accounts normally vary, so a report that says that happened is immediately suspect.
The reporter claims that a bull’s tongue and genitals had been surgically removed. There is no way for him to make that assessment unless he found some surgical tools in the area, it’s another indication of fiction. As a matter of fact the entire article is devoid of meaningful detail.
Not quite the same as the incident under discussion, but The Master Spoke on the subject some 35 years ago. Much of the article still appears to be relevant.
The soft tissue is eaten by animals, probably coyotes. Flies clean up the ragged edges and suddenly you have “genitals removed by a sharp object with surgical precision!” And they have been drained of all blood! You would not expect an animal that has been dead for very long to still have any liquid blood in them, it clots up quickly you know, and by the pictures these bulls have been dead for quite a while.
No tracks! That is because there is this thing called weather that erases them.
The cow in the picture is just a bag of bones and has been dead a long time. Could have died of thirst or any number of causes.
Oh come on!
Clickbait news with no facts. One of these alien mutilation investigations led to a similar exchange to "If coyotes did this they used scalpels. The response was “If aliens did this they used their teeth.”
Unattended beef free-ranging on U.S. Forest Service land are found dead. If these bulls were so valuable then you shouldn’t leave them to free-range without food or water in a hot, dry area that is little more than a desert with pine trees and scrub brush. Harney County is over 10,000 square miles with few people, little rain, high desert. So naturally that is where the aliens go for their research. There is a booming market for bull genitals only 25 light years from here. Maybe they should just take a couple whole bulls and cows with them and breed their own supply of beef genitals there. Sure would cut down on shipping costs.
I can assure you that the FBI is not looking into this.
You don’t think an amateur observer could tell the difference between organs removed by cutting (even if not “surgical”) vs. organs removed by coyote teeth?
Your question should be directed to TriPolar. Crop circles did exist (may still do), they weren’t made up, but they are/were done by people not aliens. I am asking how people think this thing was done, **TriPolar **is denying it was done at all.
It’s true the article linked doesn’t delve into much detail. That doesn’t prove anything either way, it only proves they don’t think it’s worth spending their time to dig deeper.
I did not say nothing happened, I said I don’t believe the accounts because of obvious flaws. The amateur observer in this case may be able to tell coyote bite marks, though probably not distinguish them from wolf bite marks, but he’s not going to recognize all other causes of death or mutilation. An actual witness may have stated “it looked like surgical precision to me”, which would be an actual account by a witness accurately describing his perception, but the article states “surgical precision” as if it were established fact, just another reason the story is suspect.
Killing cattle with a hammer wouldn’t leave a mark, unless you vivisect it. If these are younger bulls, it isn’t impossible . Not easy, but well within normal human strength range. Easy explanation 1: someone is screwing with the owner. Easy explanation 2: these bulls just died (thirst, poison, disease) and the owner is making a story out of it.
What caused the deaths is unknown, but the " genitals and tongues were removed with a sharp instrument" is small animals and birds- ravens, foxes, coyotes, etc.
The picture just shows a carcass.
If the steer died from humans, there is insurance and police, but “natural causes” and the ranchers usually cant collect. That explains why there is such a mystery over what killed them.
NPR reporter Anna King needs to read that article, because it looks like she (and her editor, if there was one) fell for this hook, line and sinker.
From Cecil’s article: “In most cases the modus operandi is the same: the deed is done at night, the deceased bovine is drained of blood, and various body parts, frequently the eyes and sex organs, are missing, having been removed with what is invariably described as “surgical precision.” Generally there are no footprints or vehicle tracks to be found in the vicinity…
According to The People’s Almanac #3, a couple Arkansas state cops tried an experiment in which they left a dead cow in a field unattended. Within 33 hours, buzzards followed by blowflies had neatly disposed of the eyes, sex organs, and even the blood, leaving the appearance of “surgical precision” behind them.”
I’m voting for urban legend, rural division. Cows die.*
*and I’m ever so glad I didn’t have to do the autopsies.
Not after ravens and what not finished off all the raggedy bits left by the coyotes.
This has been actually tested in the wild.
The hypothesis that natural phenomena account for most mutilation characteristics has been validated by a number of experiments, including one cited by long-time scientific skeptic Robert T. Carroll, conducted by Washington County (Arkansas) Sheriff’s Department. In the experiment, the body of a recently deceased cow was left in a field and observed for 48 hours. During the 48 hours, postmortem bloating was reported to have caused incision-like tears in the cow’s skin that matched the “surgical” cuts reported on mutilated cows, while the action of blowflies and maggots reportedly matched the soft tissue damage observed on mutilated cows.
Look at the area in the photo where the carcass was photographed. Dry as a popcorn fart, with no graze except petrified pinecones. Not exactly minimal territory for five prized breeding bulls. WTF: Five breeding bulls on a small farm? It’s entirely possible they dropped over dead in their tracks from dehydration.
That thing isn’t a fresh kill… it’s been there for awhile, perhaps many weeks in arid conditions. Dead carcass’s get picked over by ravens and other critters that tend to specialize in the tongue and anus areas without noticeable blood display.
Perhaps this could be simply an insurance scam, as opposed to proof of alien anal probes.