This is a report of a mutilation that took place
only 10 km from St Paul and 15 km from my ranch.
This was a Hereford Simmental cross herd bull. It
was reported to me on June the 6th 1999. The rancher and his son estimated
that the bull had died about 24 hours before they found him. It took some
time to find him because he was mutilated in the bush among willows and
poplar trees. They phoned me as soon as they found him, I was on site to
investigate within an hour. By then the bull was starting to swell up, but
had not decayed, nor was there a foul smell as yet.
As you will see by the picture, half
the nose area was cut out, one eye lid was removed, another one inch deep
cut about an inch long just below the left eye. The penis & scrotum were removed. The oval cut on the stomach was
16 by 12 inches and it looked like a surgical cut. The flesh where it had
been skinned showed no signs of teeth marks or any other abnormality.
Looking very closely at the incisions, I noticed
that some of the hair was cut. At the scrotum area the incision was about
the same size as the one on the belly area, also exhibiting neat
incisions. Furthermore, adjacent to the belly incision, I also noticed a
hairless spot approximately two inches in diameter. I will not, at this
time, comment on this very unusual finding. However, I have found these
hairless spots on about a dozen mutilations so far. The rectum area was
cut out in a triangle shape.
There was no blood anywhere; no sign of a struggle;
no tracks of anything unusual in the vicinity of the bull. This was not
surprising due to the fact that halfway through my investigation the two
other herd bulls and the cows milled around the dead bull. They were very
disturbed and excited. One of the herd bulls butted the dead bull's front
left leg with his head which was something I had never seen before.
The owners of this mutilated bull told me that the
day they found the dead animal they noticed that as soon as they drove up
to the herd there seemed to be a lot of unrest among them and the cattle
seemed spooked about something. This herd of cattle is normally very
docile.
There was an opening in the trees above the bull;
some of the leaves appeared burnt or discoloured. I mention this because
several of the ranchers & farmers that have had a mutilated animal
strongly believe that these animals are being picked up at one location,
mutilated, and then put down again, in a different spot.
Soil & plant samples were sent to BLT in
Massachusetts for analysis.
Unusual Aspects of this Case:
- hairless spots on abdomen
- rest of herd seemed spooked, one bull butted the leg of the dead bull
- there was an opening in the trees above the bull, some of the leaves
appeared burnt or discoloured
Report by Fernand Belzil.
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