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Do the wounds called "mutilations" need any cause beyond scavengers, decomposition or people with knives?

Asked 26 Oct 2026 by ·Part of What happened to the Shermans' cattle?·4 answers·0·0 following
Most likely: scavengers, insects and bloating after a natural death produce the classic picture of missing soft tissue,…Ahead on the evidence, not yet confirmed. It needs two reviews to be accepted.

Where it stands

Four answers have been proposed. Scavengers, insects and bloating after a natural death produce the classic picture of missing soft tissue,… leads, with evidence 4 for: supported by its tests. Three are still possible.

Why it matters

The ranch's cattle claims borrow their force from the 1970s mutilation wave, when reports from across the West were investigated by sheriffs, a district attorney and the FBI⁠[1]⁠[2]⁠[3]. If that literature explains the classic features, the ranch's cases need no new cause.

Answers 4

Evidence: 4 for
Most likely
Evidence: 1 for, 1 against
Most likely
None of these.
Not tested enough to call either way
Evidence: none yet
Still possible
Evidence: 1 for, 1 against
Disputed

History

  1. Rommel puts forward: scavengers, insects and bloating after a natural death produce the classic picture of missing soft tissue,…
  2. Kelleher et al. puts forward: some carcasses were cut by people, after death or killing, for whatever motive.
  3. Kelleher et al.: pathologists found the 1998 Basin cow's eye and ear were removed with a sharp instrument, and a…For: Some carcasses were cut by people, after death or killing, for whatever motive.
  4. Onet puts forward: some wounds were made by an unknown agent using heat or energy, beyond what scavengers or ordinary tools do.
  5. Onet: despite many cases and official inquiries, no one has been arrested for a mutilation.Against: Some carcasses were cut by people, after death or killing, for whatever motive.
  6. Onet: nIDS's own pathologist noted the same changes could come from drying and oxidation of exposed tissue.Against: Some wounds were made by an unknown agent using heat or energy, beyond what scavengers or ordinary tools do.
  7. Onet: a Colorado pathologist and a 1991 Oregon State laboratory report found lesions consistent with heat or…For: Some wounds were made by an unknown agent using heat or energy, beyond what scavengers or ordinary tools do.
  8. Goleman: the historian of the wave finds most cases were scavengers, misdescribed by officials unfamiliar with…For: Scavengers, insects and bloating after a natural death produce the classic picture of missing soft tissue,…
  9. Janos: the FBI closed its inquiry in 1980 having found no case of mutilation by other than common predators.For: Scavengers, insects and bloating after a natural death produce the classic picture of missing soft tissue,…
  10. Killingbeck: rommel's New Mexico inquiry concluded that the most credible sources attributed the damage to normal predator…For: Scavengers, insects and bloating after a natural death produce the classic picture of missing soft tissue,…
  11. Cole: arkansas sheriff's officers watched a dead heifer in a ravine and recorded scavengers producing the reported…For: Scavengers, insects and bloating after a natural death produce the classic picture of missing soft tissue,…
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