# How was it done: cattle in E Oregon dispatched without marks or blood **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 8, 2019, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-it-done-cattle-in-e-oregon-dispatched-without-marks-or-blood/841497 "2019-10-08T21:37:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2019, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-it-done-cattle-in-e-oregon-dispatched-without-marks-or-blood/841497/21 "2019-10-09T03:16:08Z")
"The forest is hot and still, apart from a **raven** ’s repeating caw. The bull looks like a giant, deflated plush toy. It smells. Weirdly, **there are no signs of** buzzards, coyotes or **other scavengers**. " Bolding mine. Yeah,gogogophers there’s nothing to eat there for cattle. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2019, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-it-done-cattle-in-e-oregon-dispatched-without-marks-or-blood/841497/22 "2019-10-09T05:26:59Z")
Yep Harney Co. Oregon is pretty solidly in the northern most portion of the High Desert Basin (location of ancient Lake Bonneville)that covers most of Nevada and a large chunk of Utah. Cows, not being a native animal frequently die of thirst or starvation or predation, nothing special about it except maybe the number of bulls in this case. Can’t account for ranchers claiming it must of been aliens except they gotta claim something for insurance? Anytime I have to go through that part of Oregon, I always get a hostile and isolated vibe if I stop for gas/coffee/potty break. Its always seemed like a weird little corner of the state. ---
**Author:** ![shh1313](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shh1313/32/8020_2.png) [@shh1313](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shh1313)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2019, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-it-done-cattle-in-e-oregon-dispatched-without-marks-or-blood/841497/23 "2019-10-09T12:07:08Z")
> **[History Greenlights Paranormal Nonfiction Series ‘The Secret Of Skinwalker...](https://deadline.com/2019/06/history-greenlights-paranormal-series-the-secret-of-skinwalker-ranch-ufos-1202636371/)** > > History has given a green light to The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch (working title), a nonfiction series from Ancient Aliens and The Curse of Oak Island executive producer Kevin Burns. Gaining full a… [http://www.skinwalkerranch.org/links.html](http://www.skinwalkerranch.org/links.html) Anyone been following Skinwalker Ranch? Hulu has a special on it. Pretty odd goings on . ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2019, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-it-done-cattle-in-e-oregon-dispatched-without-marks-or-blood/841497/24 "2019-10-09T13:10:43Z")
Other [relevant](https://skepticalinquirer.org/1977/04/cattle_mutilations_an_episode_of_collective_delusion/) reading including the [Incredible Bouncing Cow](http://skepticalinquirer.org/2007/03/the_incredible_bouncing_cow/). ---
**Author:** ![shh1313](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shh1313/32/8020_2.png) [@shh1313](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shh1313)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2019, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-it-done-cattle-in-e-oregon-dispatched-without-marks-or-blood/841497/25 "2019-10-09T13:17:49Z")
“BAASS, created specifically for the Pentagon contract, conducted research both from Bigelow Aerospace headquarters in North Las Vegas and an infamous Utah ranch, formerly owned by Robert Bigelow (ownership has since transferred to Adamantium Real Estate, who manages the property on behalf of an anonymous owner). Commonly known as Skinwalker Ranch, the 480-acre property has been the site of reported cattle mutilations, UFO sightings and “large, ferocious animals with piercing yellow eyes” that bullets couldn’t injure. From 1996 to 2004, Bigelow investigated paranormal phenomena at and around the ranch under the umbrella of his now defunct research group, the National Institute for Discovery Science” > **[Pentagon's Secret UFO Program Investigated Poltergeists](https://www.newsweek.com/pentagon-ufo-program-disclosure-aliens-poltergeist-top-secret-bigelow-948051)** > > New disclosures from inside the Pentagon's Top Secret UFO program include the connection between aliens, poltergeists, extra dimensions and "bizarre creatures." Like I said odd. ---
**Author:** ![shh1313](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shh1313/32/8020_2.png) [@shh1313](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shh1313)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2019, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-it-done-cattle-in-e-oregon-dispatched-without-marks-or-blood/841497/26 "2019-10-09T13:25:40Z")
> **[Pentagon's Secret UFO Program Investigated Poltergeists](https://www.newsweek.com/pentagon-ufo-program-disclosure-aliens-poltergeist-top-secret-bigelow-948051)** > > New disclosures from inside the Pentagon's Top Secret UFO program include the connection between aliens, poltergeists, extra dimensions and "bizarre creatures." Why was Harry Reid involved in it? A pork project? " the US Department of Defense “Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program” (AATIP) put his documentary team into “overdrive.” According to the Times, the program was created at the behest of Nevada senator Harry Reid and most of its $22 million budget was funneled to Bigelow Aerospace, a company founded in 1999 by the billionaire hotelier Robert Bigelow, a close friend of Reid" ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2019, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-it-done-cattle-in-e-oregon-dispatched-without-marks-or-blood/841497/27 "2019-10-09T14:23:03Z")
> [@DorkVader](#): > > Yep Harney Co. Oregon is pretty solidly in the northern most portion of the High Desert Basin (location of ancient Lake Bonneville)that covers most of Nevada and a large chunk of Utah. Cows, not being a native animal frequently die of thirst or starvation or predation, nothing special about it except maybe the number of bulls in this case. Can’t account for ranchers claiming it must of been aliens except they gotta claim something for insurance? Anytime I have to go through that part of Oregon, I always get a hostile and isolated vibe if I stop for gas/coffee/potty break. Its always seemed like a weird little corner of the state. Read the book Shadowlands and you can start to realize why the locals might not take too kindly to outsiders since the end of 2015. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2019, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-it-done-cattle-in-e-oregon-dispatched-without-marks-or-blood/841497/28 "2019-10-09T14:40:40Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > 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. Some years ago a show on the Discovery Channel featured surveillance of a dead elephant in Africa (IIRC, it was ill and had been humanely dispatched prior to the start of the show). One of the first scavengers to discover it was a hyena, and it really couldn’t make any progress on the elephant’s tough hide. So it ended up going after the anus. Andrew Zimmern would have been proud. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2019, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-it-done-cattle-in-e-oregon-dispatched-without-marks-or-blood/841497/29 "2019-10-09T16:03:22Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > Some years ago a show on the Discovery Channel featured surveillance of a dead elephant in Africa (IIRC, it was ill and had been humanely dispatched prior to the start of the show). One of the first scavengers to discover it was a hyena, and it really couldn’t make any progress on the elephant’s tough hide. So it ended up going after the anus. Andrew Zimmern would have been proud. Beavis and Butthead would be laughing right now. Heh heh buttmunch heh ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2019, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-it-done-cattle-in-e-oregon-dispatched-without-marks-or-blood/841497/30 "2019-10-09T17:39:27Z")
The preferred terminology is [cattle mutes](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=560113). ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2019, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-it-done-cattle-in-e-oregon-dispatched-without-marks-or-blood/841497/31 "2019-10-09T18:08:10Z")
Urban legend that was well debunked decades ago takes in credulous and inaccurate public broadcasting station reporter, and subsequently is picked up by NPR, apparently equally credulously, is the real story. Which turns out to be a little less interesting, but should be worthy of a follow-up story on NPR, including apologizing for being so careless in their research. I mean, no one at either the local or national level raised their hand and said, “isn’t this an instance of the cattle mutilation urban legend playing out?” As someone who regularly hears reporting by Anna King, I’m not that surprised that she was taken in. Not the sharpest reporter in the deck. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2019, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-it-done-cattle-in-e-oregon-dispatched-without-marks-or-blood/841497/32 "2019-10-09T18:30:45Z")
No rancher is ever going to publicly admit to any hint of negligence or irresponsibility that may get in the way of an insurance compensation. Strangely, the lost animals are also never in the “Well, Bessie was old and infirm, was going to cull her soon anyway…” group of the herd. They are instead touted as young, prime, best-of-breed… It’s all about chasing compensation. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2019, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-it-done-cattle-in-e-oregon-dispatched-without-marks-or-blood/841497/33 "2019-10-09T20:02:50Z")
> [@eschrodinger](#): > > should be worthy of a follow-up story on NPR, including apologizing for being so careless in their research. I mean, no one at either the local or national level raised their hand and said, “isn’t this an instance of the cattle mutilation urban legend playing out?” Apparently they didn’t even notice that, as DrDeth noted earlier, the story describes the presence of a scavenger in the same paragraph in which it says there was no sign of scavengers. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2019, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-it-done-cattle-in-e-oregon-dispatched-without-marks-or-blood/841497/34 "2019-10-09T21:04:25Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Why is it always in Arkansas that these bone-headed experiments are taken up? Because, Florida gets first dibs on all of the human misfits. ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2019, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-it-done-cattle-in-e-oregon-dispatched-without-marks-or-blood/841497/35 "2019-10-09T21:07:51Z")
I’m missing what was boneheaded about the experiment. It was debunking the claim that no natural process could have produced a carcass that looked like that. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2019, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-it-done-cattle-in-e-oregon-dispatched-without-marks-or-blood/841497/36 "2019-10-09T21:51:26Z")
> [@OttoDaFe](#): > > Not quite the same as the incident under discussion, but [The Master Spoke](https://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/519/whats-the-story-with-cattle-mutilations) on the subject some 35 years ago. Much of the article still appears to be relevant. It would be good if we looked back at The Master’s wisdom in explaining the phenomenon, which endures even decades after. > [@Cecil Adams](#): > > 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. Wrapped up with a perfectly logical, natural cause. > [@](#): > > 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. > > Other studies have tended to support this scenario. In 1974, for instance, state veterinary labs investigating a rash of mutilation reports in Nebraska and South Dakota reported that every animal brought to them for examination had died of natural causes. All hail Cecil! ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2019, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-it-done-cattle-in-e-oregon-dispatched-without-marks-or-blood/841497/37 "2019-10-09T23:54:25Z")
It was me. Sorry. I was trying something. Didn’t quite work out. ---
**Author:** ![Marion\_Morrison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a87d85/32.png) [@Marion\_Morrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marion_Morrison)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2019, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-it-done-cattle-in-e-oregon-dispatched-without-marks-or-blood/841497/38 "2019-10-09T23:59:11Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > NPR story [here](https://www.npr.org/2019/10/08/767283820/not-one-drop-of-blood-cattle-mysteriously-mutilated-in-oregon). > > 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. > > What do you think? How is it being done? Chupacabra made it out west. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2019, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-it-done-cattle-in-e-oregon-dispatched-without-marks-or-blood/841497/39 "2019-10-10T00:10:09Z")
> [@Marion\_Morrison](#): > > Chupacabra made it out west. I doubt you read any part of this thread. If you go back and read it is pretty well explained. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2019, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-it-done-cattle-in-e-oregon-dispatched-without-marks-or-blood/841497/40 "2019-10-10T00:11:21Z")
> [@wguy123](#): > > Read the book Shadowlands and you can start to realize why the locals might not take too kindly to outsiders since the end of 2015. Its been like that since the 70s, can you give me a summary of the story? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-it-done-cattle-in-e-oregon-dispatched-without-marks-or-blood/841497.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-it-done-cattle-in-e-oregon-dispatched-without-marks-or-blood/841497.md?page=3)