By Tim Binnall
Continuing an unsettling trend that has been unfolding in Oregon over the last few years, a rancher reported that one of his bulls was recently slain in a manner suggesting that it had fallen victim to the mysterious cattle mutilation phenomenon. According to a local media report, the case occurred late last month in the community of John Day, which is located in the eastern part of the state. While checking on the animals on his property, Mat Carter discovered a downed bull that appeared to have died a few days earlier and the state of its remains were particularly peculiar.
Specifically, Carter observed, the bull's blood had been drained from its body and its reproductive organs as well as its lips and tongue had been removed with what seemed to be surgical precision. Adding another layer of intrigue to the case, the rancher noted that there were no traces of the perpetrator left behind at the grisly scene. "There's no tracks, there's no signs, there's no nothing," he lamented. Considering that these details are consistent with the cattle mutilation phenomenon, Carter suspected that such an incident may have occurred on his ranch and dutifully reported it to police.
However, since the bull was discovered more than 24 hours after it had perished, authorities were unable to perform a proper autopsy on the creature in order to ascertain what could have killed it. The lack of any evidence left at the scene likely means that, as so often happens with cattle mutilation cases, the incident will ultimately wind up going unsolved. Echoing the words of so many ranchers who have lost animals to the odd phenomenon, Carter mused, "“It’s really odd. There’s no logical explanation."
That said, he was reticent to speculate on what could have slain the bull, while also stressing that he is not a believer in UFOs nor "any other kind of strange phenomenon." Although Carter may have been taken aback by the incident, the case likely did not come as much of a surprise to authorities in Oregon as the last few years have seen a chilling spate of cattle mutilations reported throughout the state. Alas, this latest case on Carter's ranch would seem to suggest that the series of strange killings has not come to an end just yet.