The following incidents were investigated primarily by officials of the New Mexico State Police, the New Mexico Livestock Board, and county sheriff departments, who communicated their findings to me as part of their participation in Operation Animal Mutilation.
Of these 12 incidents, 5 were immediately resolved by the investigating officer upon arrival at the scene. The first incident was reported on August 13 to the state police in Socorro. It was investigated by Officer Mike Martinez of the New Mexico State Police, who attributed the mutilation to obvious scavenger damage.
The next two incidents occurred in Truchas and were reported to the state police in Espanola on September 28, 1979.
These cases were investigated by Inspector Henry Guillen of the New Mexico Livestock Board. He diagnosed the cause of death as red water and claimed that no mutilation had occurred. The information on each of these three incidents was transmitted to me via state police radio. I received no additional reports.
The last two cases were also immediately resolved at the scene. The fourth incident occurred in the Belen area and was reported to the New Mexico Livestock Board on May 8, 1980. Livestock Inspector Joe Jackson investigated the suspected mutilation. He concluded that the animal had obviously been butchered at the scene for particular cuts of meat.
The last incident involved the suspected mutilation of two elk in the vicinity of the Pecos Ranger Station. This incident was reported on May 13, 1980, to the New Mexico Game and Fish Department. Upon investigating the alleged mutilation, Game Officer John Miles determined that the two animals had been killed by lightning, their carcasses subsequently being damaged by scavengers.
The remaining incidents will be discussed in the pages that follow. In virtually every instance, the investigating officers reached the same verdict that my own on-the-scene investigation produced -- damage by predators and scavengers.