MUSTANG - Owners said no cause can be found for the two mutilated black cattle, which were found dead in fields about 60 miles apart, following a full moon.
The cattle, in Canadian and Blaine counties, had their sex organs removed.
Mustang Police Chief Ron Lewis said his office recently investigated the mutilation of a 1,100- pound Angus cow. Blaine County Undersheriff Kent Sexton said his office was called to the ranch of Galen Slagell near Hydro the same morning to investigate the mutilation of a 70-pound Angus steer. Although Lewis said he is not versed on cults, he thinks some type of cult celebration that coincides with Passover might be responsible for the mutilations. Lewis and Sexton said their investigations turned up some similarities. No blood was found at the scene of either mutilation, and Lewis and Sexton said both cattle appeared to be "drained of blood." The interior and exterior sex organs, tongues and one eye from each animal had been removed. The cow found in Canadian County was missing her left ear and a patch of hide over her ribs on the right side. The cow's owner, who asked not to be identified, said he wonders what "idiots" would mutilate an animal, and he would like to have the cow's death solved. He said he checked his cattle the evening before the mutilation. "I had just worked them and I knew I didn't have any sick ones. When I went to check them, I saw her and I knew she was dead by the way she was laying." He said he was angry at first because he thought someobe had shot her and left her for the coyotes. A closer look showed him the mutilation was not the work of coyotes. There were some droPs of blood on the ground, but no blood came from any of the wounds. He said this was odd because when someone shoots a cow, a death struggle occurs and there is a lot of blood. He also said the cow was in an area of dirt and there were no tracks, neither human or animal around her.
"When I walked up, I left tracks," he said.
He said he checked the animal carefully and could not find a cause of death. The cow's death will continue to be a problem. Her 4-month-old calf, which would not normally be weaned for another two months, now will not grow as rapidly, and the cow had been bred and was about two months pregnant. Undersheriff Sexton said it had rained before the steer was found near Hydro and the ground was soft. "There were no prints,'i Sexton said. He said he has been around cattle all his life, and "this wasn't coyotes." Ranch owner Slagell agreed: "I don't know of any coyotes that carry knives." Sexton said veterinarian Tim Lowry also couldn't find a bullet hole. "We're baffled." he said. Although Lowry said, "There definitely was a human hand involved," Slagell said he was still not ruling out the possibility that the mutilation could have been done by vultures. : But Blaine County Assistant District attorney George Burnett said the steer "obviously was surgically cut ... If someone saw something, it may help us solve the case."
Back to AUFORA's Cattle Mutilation page
AUFORA's home page