Cattle mutilation
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Cattle mutilation is the alleged killing and then subsequent mutilation of cattle. Sheep or horses have also been similarly mutilated, according to some accounts.
Mutilations include removal of parts of the mouth and hind regions, especially the anus and sexual organs.
Some attribute these mutilations to extraterrestrials.
Skeptics, such as Robert T. Carroll, and other scientists hold that the apparent mutilations have completely natural and terrestrial origins: animals that have died from natural causes which have then been fed upon by a variety of scavengers, who tend to remove the eyes and softer internal organs first via the easiest access route—the mouth and anus.
Proponent's respond that debunkers have little or no field experience with such mutilations, and further state that farmers and large-animal veterinarians have made distinctions between normal predation and so-called "cattle mutilations."
There is no consensus that the phenomenon exists, or if it does exist, what causes the phenomenon.
See also: Anomalous phenomenon, chupacabra
External links
- The Skeptic's Dictionary explanation of Cattle Mutilation (http://www.skepdic.com/cattle.html)
- FBI Animal Mutilation Project (http://foia.fbi.gov/foiaindex/ufoanim.htm)
- Account of a mutilation and interview with examining veterinarian (http://www.earthfiles.com/news/news.cfm?ID=724&category=Environment)