Cattle mutilations resurrect recurring mystery

Valier rancher John Peterson and his wife were recently headed out into the twilight to do some chores when they spotted her. The healthy young cow lay dead in a stubble field, just off the road. Stopping the truck to investigate, they found the sickening, telltale signs. The cow's udder, genitals and rectum were cut out with stunning precision. The left side of her face was carved off, the exposed bones stripped as clean as if they'd been boiled. Peterson, who discovered a similarly mutilated cow on his neighbor's ranch five years ago, knew he was the latest victim in one of rural Montana's greatest mysteries. Since the 1970s Montana ranchers have found dozens of cattle carved up in similar, macabre fashion. The first known incident was a mutilated steer reported near Sand Coulee in late August 1974. By December 1977, sheriff's deputies had investigated 67 mutilation cases in Cascade, Judith Basin, Chouteau, Teton and Pondera counties. In each case, the cuts were made with surgical precision, often in circular shapes. Similar cases have haunted ranchers in the Southwest since the 1970s, when a 300-page federally funded report concluded the killings were the work of natural predators. Peterson, a lifelong rancher, says he knows a predator kill when he sees one. Grizzly bears, wolves and coyotes aren't suspects in this case, he said.
"It's the weirdest thing," he said. "A guy hates to say too much because I don't know how far you can go before they'll put you in the nuthouse." Others theories besides predators involve pranksters, satanic cults and space aliens.