Authorities reported this week that six cattle mysteriously died in Texas. Their tongues had been removed, the hide covering one side of their mouths was missing, and no blood had been spilt.
According to a statement released by the Madison County Sheriff’s Office, the six animals’ causes of death were unknown. A dispatcher stated that as of Friday, there had been no developments in the case.
The cattle were discovered along Texas State Highway in the counties of Madison, Brazos, and Robertson. Each cow was discovered in a different pasture and belonged to a different herd.
Five of the animals were adults and one was a yearling. The sex of the cattle was not released.
When they died wasn’t immediately apparent.
The sheriff’s office reported that in two instances, the animals’ genitalia and anuses had been removed using a circular incision that was “done with the same precision as the cuts recorded around the jaw lines of each cow,” according to the sheriff’s office.
Five of the deaths were found by Madison County Sheriff’s Office investigators after ranchers reported the death of a 6-year-old longhorn-cross cow.
According to the sheriff’s office, there were no footprints or tire tracks and no sign of struggle around the bodies.
“Ranchers also reported that no predators or birds would scavenge the remains of the cow, leaving it to decay untouched for several weeks,” the sheriff’s office said.
Similar events have been reported all throughout the country, and the sheriff’s office said it was working with other law enforcement organizations on this case.
Authorities in Oregon discovered five dead bulls with their tongues and sex organs removed in 2019, according to The Associated Press.
Beliefs about the deaths of those bulls ranged from spaceships, to carrion bugs, to cult killings. If the cause of those deaths was ever solved was unclear.
There was no evidence that anything other than typical predators was responsible for an earlier wave of inexplicable livestock deaths on tribal lands, an FBI agent who studied the deaths told The Associated Press.
