Creepy string of calf mutilations mystify Colorado rancher, police

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Creepy string of calf mutilations mystify Colorado rancher, police
November 26, 2009
KDVR Denver

AN LUIS, Colo. - A creepy string of calf mutilations in southern Colorado has a rancher and law enforcement investigators mystified.

Four calves have been found dead in a pasture just north of the New Mexico state line in recent weeks.

The dead calves had their skins peeled back and organs cleared from the rib cage. One calf had its tongue removed.

But rancher Manuel Sanchez has found no signs of human attackers, such as footprints or ATV tracks. And there are no signs of an animal attack by a coyote or mountain lion. Usually predators leave pools or blood or drag marks from carrying away the livestock.

"There's nothing really to go by," said Sanchez, who's ranched for nearly 50 years. "I can't figure it out."

Sgt. James Chavez said two officers from the Costilla County Sheriff's Office went to the pasture to investigate one of the killings, and their report revealed no indication of predator attack or that a person butchered it. "I've butchered a cow before and I know what kind of a mess it leaves," he told the Pueblo Chieftain.

Both Sanchez and Chavez believe there have been other incidents, but they haven't been reported because people are unwilling to talk about something so mysterious.

When something like this happens, there's always talk of UFO's and alien visits. Neither believe in that, either.

But some may look upward for an explanation. The San Luis Valley is a place where an unexplained horse mutilation maintains celebrity status 40 years after its death because of mysterious circumstances. It also has a UFO watchtower sitting on the roadside near Hooper.

The Pueblo Chieftain reports that a man named Chuck Zukowski came from Colorado Springs to investigate the most recent calf mutilation. He looked into three cattle mutilations in Huerfano and Las Animas counties in March, and he hopes to establish a link between the killings and the existence of UFOs.

Zukowski's report on his Web site, UFOnut.com does not reach that conclusion. But it notes similarities to a similar incident on a ranch near Trinidad, which is not far from the Colorado - New Mexico border.

"We're trying as much as we can to find a pattern," Zukowski told the Chieftain.

Meanwhile, Sanchez sold his remaining 32 calves because he didn't want any more to get mutilated. He's still deciding how he'll manage the 40 head of cattle he has left in his herd.