Oregon authorities are investigating the deaths and mutilation of
five bulls on the Silvies Valley Ranch. The bull carcasses were
discovered July 30 and 31 on the ranch in Harney County with no obvious
cause of death. Colby Marshall, vice president of Silvies Valley Ranch,
told The Capital Press,
there were no outward signs of a struggle — no rope burns on trees, no
scattered hoof prints, no strangulation marks. The bulls, he said, look
like they simply fell over and died. Even stranger than the deaths, Harney County Sheriff Deputy Dan Jenkins said, are the mutilations. Only a few pieces of the body were removed on each animal — the anus, scrotum, testicles and tongues. One bull was also missing its penis and the tip of one ear.
The Harney County Sheriff’s Office, the Oregon State Police and the Malheur National Forest Emigrant Creek Ranger District are investigating.
Deputy Jenkins said a necropsy to determine the cause of death was not possible because when found the bulls were already past the 24-hour window when a veterinary inspection would have been effective.
Jenkins told The Capital press the missing body parts don’t appear to have been chewed, but the wounds appeared clean-cut.
“The parts were definitely cut out with a sharp blade,” he said. “There weren’t any signs of predatory eating or chewing. They were cut out by at least one person.”...
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1 comment:
We experienced the same type mutilation, and it was within 150 yards of my Dad's home. No reason for death seen, and the penis removed with a scalpel ---pretty evident since the angle of approach along the longitudinal cuts were indicative of a person cutting above the carcass. At that time the ground was a military training flyover favorite and indeed in another incident,2 miles away watched troops unload at a very low level out of a chopper w/o the landowner's permission. The military flights were an acute nuisance and also have pictures of cottonwood level hazing of my cattle. Had calves tear themselves up running from the chopper as well as the fence line.
Called the Army Air Guard and finally after the Inspector General and the Top Dog came out and viewed the flyover pictures; it was designated then, for a long time, as a no flyover zone. The Chinooks still give a wide berth as they do their training drops on ground a couple miles away in another direction.
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