Cattle
mutilations back Ranchers, lawmen baffled by crime wave
By KATIE OYAN
Tribune Staff Writer
CONRAD -- This is the kind of déja vu Everett King could
do without.
About 15 years ago, he discovered the grisly remains of one
of his cattle that had died mysteriously.
In October,
it happened again.
King said
it looked as though a surgeon had sliced into his 7-year-old
Charolais, the way its right eye and ear were cut off -- not
to mention the way its reproductive organs had been cored.
What King
finds most unusual, however, is that two months later the carcass
lies right where he found it, untouched.
"Predators
won't eat it," said King, who ranches outside Valier, south
of Lake Frances. "It should have been cleaned up and gone
a long time ago."
Ranchers
reported four mutilations between June and August. Since then,
there have been 11 more, and investigators are still searching
for answers.
The same
bizarre circumstances haunted area ranchers and baffled law
enforcement 20 years ago, sparking rumors about UFOs, cults
and government conspiracies.
The mutilations
went away in the '90s but began again this summer.
The most
recent victim -- a 12-year-old Hereford -- turned up earlier
this month on a ranch northwest of Conrad.
"They
skinned off the belly from her front legs to her back legs all
the way around," Pondera County Sheriff's Deputy Dan Campbell
said. "The complete bag was removed."
The last
few mutilations occurred within three miles of each other in
the Dry Forks area, about 10 or 15 miles west of Conrad.
In October,
members of the New Miami Colony, 18 miles west of Conrad, discovered
two mutilated cows at the same time, about 30 yards apart.
The scenes
were remarkably similar to mutilations ranchers reported here
more than a decade ago, Campbell said.
Most of
the cows had the skin scraped off their faces. Often, the tongue,
one eye and all or part of an ear had been removed. Part of
the udder usually was cut off, as well as the genitals. And
in most cases, the anus had been cored.
A majority
of the cows were 4 or 5; one was missing its teeth.
In the
late '70s, a high volume of alleged mutilations in southwestern
states prompted a federally funded investigation. The resulting
300-page report concluded that animal predators were responsible.
Although
some dismiss the Pondera County deaths as a hoax or chalk them
up to natural causes and predators, Campbell and fellow investigator
Sheriff's Deputy Dick Dailey say they aren't convinced.
Cuts on
the cows are often circular or oval and -- as with Everett King's
Charolais -- seem to be made with surgical precision.
The animals
seem to bloat faster than normal, and their missing hide doesn't
reflect the work of predators, Campbell said.
"I've
never seen an animal eat just the face off a cow when there's
lots of other stuff to go after," he said.
One mutilated
cow looked like it had been burned. Another seemed to have bruises
around its neck as though it had been strangled. One had a long
cut with a perfectly ridged edge, as though the hide had been
sliced with a tool similar to pinking shears.
Also strange
is that in most cases, no tracks or footprints were detected
around the animals' bodies, even in mud or snow.
A misconception
is that the cows have been drained of blood. Natural coagulation
only makes it look like the creatures' fluids have been drained,
Dailey said.
Dailey,
who lives in Dupuyer, spent several nights this fall camped
out in dark fields, trying to catch the culprit in the act.
He has reviewed all the facts and checked out dozens of Web
sites looking for answers.
Still,
nothing.
"I've
read everything I can read on it, and I really don't know what
in the heck it is," he said.
Ranchers
aren't sure what to think, either.
In September,
Jim VandenBos discovered the body of one of his $850 2-year-old
Angus lying dead in his pasture.
The right
side of its face was skinned, and the exposed jawbone was so
smooth it looked like it had been polished, VandenBos said.
Its tongue
was cut off along with its right ear, eye and reproductive organs.
A tennis-ball-sized patch of skin on its shoulder was hard like
plastic.
Again,
coyotes -- even other cattle -- steered clear.
VandenBos
has been ranching southwest of Valier for more than 30 years
and remembers the last wave of mutilations well.
"It's
kind of a spooky thing," he said. "I haven't worried
about it too much because it's something I can't control - but
I'd like to find an explanation."
Toward
the end of October, a neighbor found the 750-pound steer that
died in Glen and Ruby Bouma's dry creek bed, three miles west
of Conrad.
"There
was a little trail of grass pushed up like it was shoved up
underneath it," Ruby Bouma said.
The hide
was missing from the calf's stomach and its reproductive organs
were gone, but there were no tracks, no bullet holes and no
claw marks.
The calf,
No. 55, was almost a year old and was worth about $600. It was
one of the friendliest animals the Boumas owned.
A local
vet said it died of dust pneumonia, but Glen and Ruby have their
doubts.
"That's
possible, because it's so dry," Ruby Bouma said. "But
I think we would have known if it was sick. We took special
notice because it was one of two calves that were like pets
to us. It would come up and smell your hand or your pantleg."
The whole
thing is peculiar, if you ask the Boumas. When a cow dies of
natural causes, for instance, predators will usually chew into
its flesh.
Glen and
Ruby's calf was missing only its hide. And when they checked
on Thanksgiving Day, predators still were keeping their distance.
Some folks
in the area think the U.S. Air Force or aliens are behind the
mutilations, but not Ruby.
"I'm
sorry, but I personally think it's somebody local ... that's
doing it for kicks," she said.
One difficulty
local investigators have encountered in cracking the case is
gathering evidence.
After two
or three days, collecting evidence becomes a lost cause because
the cattle are so badly decomposed.
And in
the summer, carcasses rot faster and often go undiscovered for
weeks.
"We
have to fight time," Campbell said. "We're hoping
that this time of year, ranchers are gathering and feeding every
day so we'll get a better jump on them and come up with some
more clues."
Pondera
sheriff's deputies also are hoping a Nevada laboratory will
answer some of their questions.
This fall,
Campbell and Dailey chopped the head off a mutilated cow, packed
it in dry ice and shipped it to the National Institute for Discovery
Science in Las Vegas.
The privately
funded institute pays scientists and retired police officers
to investigate bizarre phenomena including mutilations and UFO
sightings.
A spokesman
from the institute said researchers are nearly finished with
their study and will be sending a copy of the report to the
Pondera County sheriff's office in a couple of weeks.
"If
they could come up with something, that would really help us,"
Dailey said.
Until investigators
reach a satisfactory conclusion, theories continue to spread
through local coffee shops and bars.
Some say
the mutilations are a government ploy to get Montanans' minds
off global issues. Others finger satanic cults or spaceships.
Most say
they don't believe in all that eerie X-Files stuff. But even
some of the staunchest skeptics are beginning to wonder.
"I
just can't believe little men are coming from outer space,"
said Conrad resident Jack Rowekamp, a retired bus driver and
custodian. "But I guess you never know."
