Cattle ranchers on Hawaii's Big Island say that a sinister individual or group has been killing their cows in a strange fashion for the last few years and that authorities are unwilling or unable to stop it.
Unlike the infamous cattle mutilation phenomenon, which some suspect could be paranormal in nature, these killings are undoubtedly being committed by human hands.
That's because the Hawaiian Cow Killer's modus operandi involves simply shooting the cows with a gun and leaving the bodies behind otherwise untouched.
As to what may be motivating the proverbial 'HCK,' no one knows, although the prevailing theory is that they shootings are some kind of thrill killings akin to those of a human serial killer.
One particularly unfortunate rancher lamented that he has lost eight or nine cows to the miscreant in just the last year or so and that his losses are merely the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the killer's total tally.
Numerous other victims told the newspaper West Hawaii Today that they had also lost cattle in a similar fashion and that the killings have been going on for the around two or three years.
However, the true scope of the HCK's killing spree is shrouded in mystery as many in the Hawaiian cattle ranching community have actually stopped reporting the incidents.
Their reasoning is that law enforcement in the area have been unable to solve the crimes for years and, as such, a growing sense of frustration has swept through the community.
"It goes nowhere," one rancher said of police investigations, "they take a picture and since they don’t have any hard evidence of who is doing it, they toss it out.
And, since many of these crimes are now going unreported, police have largely dismissed the notion that there is a serial cow killer on the loose in Hawaii, much to the chagrin of many ranchers.
To their credit, authorities say that they cannot pursue the theory that these cases are connected unless they are told about them and, thus, called on victimized ranchers to report the crimes.
One should hope that the stalemate can be fixed, since some in the region have expressed concern that the HCK may move on to killing humans should downing cows no longer provide the same excitement for the nefarious ne'er-do-well.
Source: West Hawaii Today