On September 13 at 12:30 a.m. the state police informed me that a cattle mutilation had been reported in the Truchas area. I telephoned the owner, who told me the animal had been found dead and mutilated at 9:30 p.m. the previous evening.

I immediately traveled to the scene and discovered a female bovine, between three and four years old, lying on its right side. The anus area was missing and there was a hole in the udder where a nipple had been removed. In addition, part of the tongue was gone, both eyes had been partially removed, and a three-inch patch of skin was missing from the belly area. A large quantity of blood had settled in the carcass. I also found bird defecation on the body.

Because it was still dark, I decided to resume the investigation later that morning. This time I was accompanied by Henry Guillen, New Mexico Livestock Board inspector; Cipriano Padilla, district attorney investigator; the owner of the animal and his son. Upon arrival at the scene, we observed six turkey vultures on the carcass. They immediately took flight. In addition to this dramatic evidence of scavenger activity, canine defecation was also found near the body.

Since the carcass obviously contained a considerable amount of gas, Inspector Guillen asked the owner if the cow had been vaccinated against blackleg -- a type of clostridial infection that produces an acute, febrile disease in cattle. The owner replied that none of his cows had been vaccinated against blackleg, and that this was the second cow he had lost this summer. Inspector Guillen then advised the owner to have his stock vaccinated since other cows in the area had recently died from the disease.

Several days after my investigation, the owner contacted me and reported that on September 14 he had found another cow dead. He said he immediately took the carcass to a veterinarian in Espanola, who diagnosed the cause of death as blackleg. The owner also informed me he had immediately instituted a vaccination program for the rest of his herd.

Figure No. 26 shows bird defecation near the left eye, which is missing.

Figure No. 27 shows the damage inflicted on the rear end of the carcass as viewed from a distance of approximately six feet.

Figure No. 28 shows a close-up of the same damage.

Note the extreme jaggedness of the cut in the 12 o'clock position. This picture illustrates how difficult it is to accurately assess the nature of a mutilation on the basis of a distant photograph.

Figure No. 29 shows the udder area, from which a nipple has obviously been removed.

In conclusion, the damage inflicted on this carcass is similar to that found on other carcasses-- with one exception. We arrived on the scene before the entire udder was taken. As noted previously, the entire investigative team observed six vultures working on the carcass, and the resulting damage has been graphically revealed in the photographs. I have additional slides on file which show the carcass with its ear and tongue partially removed. Once again I wish to stress the point that the amount of damage done to a carcass depends on what time the investigator arrives at the scene and which scavengers are in the area.