Strange events nothing new in Weld

Could it be starting again? The bizarre world of cattle mutilations has been quiet for a few years, but last week, a San Luis Valley rancher in southwest Colorado found four mutilated calves on his ranch, with no ready explanation of what happened to them. 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. It was like that in Weld County 10 to 30 years ago, and some farmers and ranchers have said they still find mutilated livestock, but they don't report it because of skeptics. In almost every mutilation case in Weld, the cattle and horses that were taken to Colorado State University for examination were determined to be mutilated by predators — usually coyotes — feeding on the dead animals. Farmers and ranchers joke that “coyotes with scalpels” have been mutilating the cattle. In the 1970s, Colorado Sen. Floyd Haskell asked for an FBI investigation after the reported mutilations reached 130 across the state. That investigation resulted in a 300-page, $45,000 report that stated the mutilations were the acts of natural predators. Speculation about the mutilations have led to various theories, from space aliens to Satan worshippers, battle-fatigued Vietnam War veterans to “animal cruelty deviants.” Most puzzling in many of the cases is the absence of animal prints, footprints or tire marks around the dead animals...read more