UPDATE: Revised at 2 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 21.
There is, you'd like to think, a reasonable explanation for the spate of seemingly eerie cattle mutilations that have swept across our western lands. Coyotes. Mountain lions. A whiny Jay Leno seeking to have the entire pasture to himself.
Or maybe the cattle mutilations are the work of a wacky religious cult, which is not to imply in any way that there are any wacky religious cults around here, even though an unusual number of cars do seem to have sacred cow ears dangling from the rear-view mirrors.
Anyway, a few weeks back, in a snowy field in Colorado's rich San Luis Valley, resting on its side on the undisturbed ground as if placed there by a gentle hand, was the body of a 4-year-old brown cow. This leads to the obvious question: "How now?"
With us today to address that question is Chuck Zukowski, who lives here in our village and has a passion for the strange and unexplained. Do aliens exist? Do magnetic fields indicate the presence of interplanetary materials? Will things get better around here after the flying saucer takes Doug Bruce back to his own galaxy? When former state lawmaker and El Paso County Commissioner Ed Jones decided a few weeks ago not to throw his hat back into the political ring, was it because he feared his toupée might go flying into the ring with it?
Although mostly, Zukowski will stick to the cattle mutilation thing. And before you roll your eyes, know this: Zukowski, who has spent 30 years probing alleged UFO sightings, does not seem in any way to be a UFO nut. Even though his license plates read "UFONUT" (not kidding) and he has a Web site named ufonut.com (also not kidding).
"I'm well aware of the giggle and ridicule factor," says Zukowski, a bright guy, a computer software designer and a reserve deputy sheriff in El Paso County. "So I go with it. I have some fun."
Last year Zukowski traveled to five strange cattle mutilation scenes in Colorado. He was summoned by ranchers who were puzzled and, in some cases, frightened by what they found in their fields.
The most recent, near Alamosa in December, was the case of the 4-year-old cow with its ears and udder missing — the body parts removed with great precision, clearly not the work of a coyote or mountain lion. A video of the scene is available on Zukowski's Web site. (Warning: It is graphic and is not easy to watch — although it's easier than trying to watch The Jay Leno Show.)
Baffling mutilations have been reported across the western United States since 1967, when Snippy the horse died a bizarre death, also near Alamosa. Snippy's owner said the cuts on the body were surgical. When she touched the horse's flesh, she said, it oozed a thick green fluid. There were reports of UFOs darting across the night sky.
In a story for the Denver Post a few years back, I walked with rancher Chuck Bowen across his Eastern Plains ranch near Eads and he talked of two of his cows that had died in the same manner as Snippy. He was asked about aliens darting across the galaxies to snatch cow and horse parts. He smiled.
"You would think they'd have something more important to do," he said.
Zukowski thinks so, too.
"Until I actually see an alien mutilating a cow," he says, "I'll figure it's something else."
A more likely culprit: the military. In our initial conversation (and then in my first version of this column), Zukowski and I referred to Alamosa, where dozens of unexplained mutilations have occurred, being the scene of above-ground nuclear testing after World War II.
After a reader's comment that perhaps we meant Alamogordo, N.M., instead, I called Zukowski to determine if we should clarify. His response:
"Maybe I was wrong. Alamagordo was the site of the documented tests, but there have always been rumors that during the '50s and '60s the area around Alamosa, Colorado, was the site of secret and limited radiation tests on the environment, tests performed by the military. This would explain why they keep checking radiation levels even today and why, maybe, they are doing research on the cattle and horses, to see the effects today of the radiation."
And as Zukowski said in our first discussion, "So many of these animals seem to have been put down on the ground without a trace of footprints or trampled grass or tire tracks. Helicopters can lay things down that way."
Then he adds: "But there are reports of identical animal mutilations in Missouri and Canada and the Dominican Republic and other places where there was no nuclear testing."
Zukowski will continue investigating.
"For me, it's the love of the unknown," he says.
This week he was planning a quick trip to northwest Colorado.
"Bigfoot," he says softly. "Someone says they've found tracks."
Comments (12)
Showing 1-12 of 12
Cattle Mutilations?
Come on folks, why would the Fed. go to a lot of trouble and great
expense to capture a cow by helicopter when they can go to any local
livestock auction and buy all they need rather inexpensively. Also,
horses are readily available for nothing since they are plentiful on
Bureau of Land Management grazing ranges. Regarding the wounds - small
animals and insects in the wild eat soft tissue since the cow hide is
very thick and they are unable to chew into it. These smaller animals
are the first ones on the scene when an animal dies of natural causes.
like
dislike
Posted by
Old Man
on 08/26/2010 at 7:04 PM
my husband was born and raised in the san luis valley and the only time he has seen something strange is when he was shrooming
Posted by
harley883
on 01/26/2010 at 8:58 AM
You can see UFO craft every clear
night using 3rd generation night vision goggles. Best time is right
after dark. The sun illuminates the craft best, right after dark. See
an average of 10 to fifty or more during the first two hours. Lets face
the fact that the government is not our friend. The government is
lying to us about everything!
If you want more information - its free. Give me a call - UFOs, 911, sweet spots ...
Bob Oliver 831 383-2676 boboliver9@gmail.com
The Quantum Leap www.krxa540.com Mon 8pm Sat 9pm west coast time
Posted by
Bob Oliver
on 01/25/2010 at 5:25 PM
Rich Tosches:
Thanks for your response and clarification. However, Douglas Bruce is
no friend of mine and the Hafhgoogians should never have let him out of
his cage.
Posted by
dennis felmlee
on 01/23/2010 at 2:54 PM
Hi "bex" your quote "I guess I
just can't see the military argument very clearly." That's why it's one
of many theories. But one we have to leave on the table. If there is a
2% chance it could be alien, then we have to assume there's at least a
2% chance it's our government. Frankly I would prefer aliens over our
government because it's criminal what's going on and no government
should be able to get away with it.
chuck
Posted by
ufonut
on 01/22/2010 at 9:15 AM
But why would the military wanna
create confusion within the community? Why not just take the animals,
perform their "tests" and dispose of the carcass? For decades there's
been rumors flying that the U.S. government has succeeded in many ufo
cover-ups so why leave gutted bloodless animal carcasses around to make
people think otherwise?
Obviously, if they were trying to make us think it was another animal
that did it - they'd maim the carcass and cover their tracks. I guess I
just can't see the military argument very clearly.
Posted by
_bex
on 01/21/2010 at 4:38 PM
Response to Dennis Felmlee: Hey
Dennis there was a slight mis-communication when I was talking about the
Alamosa testing. One early theory why so many animals have been
mutilated in the San Luis Valley is because of a secret military base in
the area. Some say it's near Alamosa, some say it's in Blanca Peak. The
story goes the testing and/or experiments in that area could have
affected the environment, so the military has been checking by abducting
animals and running lab analysis on their tissue. Then they drop the
bloodless mutilated animal back on the ranch from which they nabbed to
create confusion within the community. So who is doing the mutilations?
Well we know it's not known animal predators, so we're looking for the
unknown ones. Military? Aliens? Who do we point the finger at?
Thank you and good catch on the Alamosa/Alamagordo gotta help us keep the facts straight.
Chuck Zukowski
Posted by
ufonut
on 01/21/2010 at 4:16 PM
thank you Guy.. It's always a pleasure seeing and working with you.
chuck zukowski
Posted by
ufonut
on 01/21/2010 at 4:01 PM
Nice to see you getting good press
Chuck - you and Debbie are an asset and continue to make all of us in
the research community look good! You've given many great presentations
when here.
God Bless,
Guy Malone aka
http://www.AlienStranger.com
Roswell NM
Posted by
Guy Malone
on 01/21/2010 at 3:15 PM
Dennis Felmlee:
Good point. You are correct. The famous (infamous?) Trinity test was
indeed outside of Alamagordo NM. UFO researcher Chuck Zukowski clarified
in a phone call today: "Maybe I was wrong. Alamagordo was the site of
the documented tests, but there have always been rumors that during the
50s and 60s the area around Alamosa, Colo., was the site of secret and
limited radiation tests on the environment, tests performed by the
military. This would explain why they keep checking radiation levels
even today and why, maybe, they are doing research on the cattle and
horses, to see the effects today of the radiation."
--
I should have made all of that clearer in my story. I hope this helps. Thanks for reading and for your note.
Rich Tosches
(PS: As for implying that your Douglas Bruce is from the 12th moon of
Hafhgoog, well, I aplogize for that, too. I hope the Hafhgoogians will
forgive me.)
Posted by
tosches
on 01/21/2010 at 2:05 PM
another unsolved mystery. i hope he gets to the bottom of those mutilations befor it starts happening to humans ! goldieshouse.piczo.com
youtube.com/goldieshome
Posted by
rich2010
on 01/21/2010 at 11:43 AM
The northern San Luis Valley was
considered for the first atomic bomb test site, but was rejected. The
Trinity test took place near ALAMAGORDO, New Mexico, not ALAMOSA,
Colorado. There were never any above-ground nuclear tests near Alamosa,
nor for that matter, anywhere in Colorado. Instead of being cute about
Douglas Bruce and Jay Leno, perhaps you should do some fact checking.
Dennis Felmlee
Alamosa
Posted by
dennis felmlee
on 01/21/2010 at 9:31 AM
