With the news Dec. 18 that a bull had been killed and his genitals removed in Harvey County, the reaction was, "What?" Then on Jan. 1 a pregnant cow was found dead in McPherson County with her eye, eyelid and eyelashes expertly removed, and the reaction went up a notch to, �This is bizarre.�



Who or what could have done this? Why? This is sick. Many questions were raised and research was done. That�s when it got more bizarre. Cattle mutilation is nothing new. It�s been going on � depending on who believe � for anywhere between the last half century and since caveman days.



This phenomenon isn�t new, strange as that sounds. How do cattle end up dead, mutilated in different but just a few distinctive ways with no clues around? The questions go on. There have been at least 10,000 such cases since 1967 alone, mostly in Midwestern states. There was a real surge in the 1970s, especially right here in Kansas, with 30 to 40 such incidents reported in nearby Butler County alone.



No, this is nothing new as detailed in two stories in The News on Saturday. There are several theories on who is doing it, most notably religious cults and aliens. There are others, such as the government and meth users. The theme here is it�s bizarre, regardless.



Numerous books written by individuals and government reports have documented well that the lack of tracks left by whatever did the vast majority of the mutilations. The incisions used to remove whatever body parts are so well done that lasers are suspected. Many cases have been ruled as cattle killed by predators � coyotes, wolves, whatever � but they don�t make precision cuts. They also leave tracks.



There is more craziness to this, if that�s possible. Back in the heyday of the mutilations in the '70s and reports of aliens and helicopters to pick up cattle � causing the lack of tracks and clues � people were shooting at helicopters. Government helicopter pilots were told to fly higher because of it.



But again we go back to why. Cults could be the answer, but frankly, humans leave tracks. After all these years, all these cases, if humans were involved, someone surely would have been caught; someone would have talked. But aliens then? Who knows?



We hope that the latest round of cases will result in answers. We have so much better technology, testing, etc., to try to come up with an answer. As McPherson County Sheriff T. Walton, charged with investigating the latest round of mutilations, has said: �I�ll take in an alien, a person, whatever it is. We just want it stopped.�



Agreed. Good luck, Sheriff Walton. It is time to put this mutilation mystery to rest.