Mysterious Cattle Deaths Baffle Local Ranchers - Huerfano World Journal

Mysterious cattle deaths baffle local ranchers | Huerfano World Journal
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Mysterious cattle deaths baffle local

ranchers
David Perkins
September 4, 2014
HUERFANO Everybody out here has been very, very excited since this whole
thing started. Its all kinda creepy. The whole thing that rancher Robert Wolf was
referring to is the current rash of so-called cattle mutilations and other strange
occurrences that have been reported at the
Turkey Ridge sub-division about 13
miles northeast of Walsenburg. Between August 8th and August 17th, eight
unexplained cattle deaths have
been reported to the Huerfano County Sheriffs
Department. The total estimated loss for the animals owners is estimated to be
about $14,000. The first hint of trouble in paradise was the discovery of two dead
Black Angus steers at 6 am Friday morning, August 8th. Robert Wolf and his
neighbor and fellow rancher Ty Edmundson were delivering water to Edmundsons
herd when they came across the grisly scene. The two 26-month-old steers were
both lying on their right
sides about 30 feet apart with
their heads pointed north definitely mutilated, Edmundson said. Even more
disconcerting to Edmundson was the fact that both animals were mutilated
in
identical fashion: both of them looked exactly the same. According to Ty
Edmundson: The rectum was cut out, just a perfect
circle and a circle where their
testicles would have been there was also a circular cut around where the penis
would normally have come out, and the penis was gone. He further noted that both
http://huerfanojournal.com/new_site/mysterious-cattle-deaths-baffle-local-ranchers/[27/09/2014 15:35:49]
steers were missing their tongues. Beaver Edmundson, Tys father and long-time
local rancher, examined the animals later that morning and noticed that a thin strip of
flesh about six inches long had
been removed from one of the steers lower lip with
a pretty slick cut. Beaver said that the two 1,100-lb. animals were
in perfect health
and were fat and sassy. These were premium grass-fed animals and were worth at
least $2,000 each, Beaver added. As with all eight of the suspicious cattle deaths,
the steers appeared to have simply dropped dead. There were no signs of struggle
or the thrashing scuffs of animals in their death throes, typically characteristic of
livestock that die of natural causes, such as disease, rattlesnake bites, predator
attacks and poisonous plants. Ive seen a jillion natural deaths and nothing even
resembles this, Ty Edmundson said.

Not their first rodeo
Although no vet was called to examine the animals, the Edmundsons did
call the
Sheriffs Department. Undersheriff David McCain agreed to meet Beaver
Edmundson later that day at the site. According to Edmundson, McCain looked the
scene over carefully and took photos. Edmundson aked McCain what he thought
had happened to the steers: McCain just shook his head slowly and said I really
dont know. McCain recounted his investigation of three mutilated cows belonging
to Ermenio Andreatta near La Veta in October of 1994. Ermenios wife, Theresa, told
the Rocky Mountain News at the time: It looks like they used a real sharp
instrument. There were no tracks on the ground around them and no signs of a
struggle. It just looked like they was dropped. The same article quoted Deputy
Sheriff McCain: I dont know what happened to them or how they died, but to me,
no predator killed these animals. Beaver Edmundson, who runs cattle on about
90,000 acres in the area, told McCain this wasnt his first rodeo either. In 1985,
Beaver had found one of his cows mutilated on land he was leasing on Yellowstone
Road not far from La Veta. As he told the story: I
saw her laying square on her
back, on her backbone, with her hind legs splayed out. I thought that was unusual.
When I got up to her I could see that her udder was completely gone, cut out in a
perfect circle. Like many ranchers, Edmundson did not call in a vet or report the
incident. I kinda had the mindset at the time that publicity just encourages
copycats. Edmundson was skeptical (then
and now) that lab tests would provide
any answers to the mystery. On August 9th, Dennis Thompson, one of Robert Wolfs
neighbors, called Wolf to inform him that one of Wolfs heifers was lying dead near
Thompsons fence line. Citing health and disease issues,
Thompson asked that Wolf
remove the carcass as soon as possible. Wolf, who was out of town at the time,
called Ty Edmundson and asked that he drag the animal away. When Edmundson
arrived at the scene he was shocked
at the animals condition: The heifer had the
rectum and the vagina cut out of it in one big cut. It was also missing its tongue.
Robert Wolf was not pleased with the news and promptly called the cows owner,
Tim Reed, in Fowler, Colorado. Reed owns a
large-scale ranching operation,
running cattle in several western states. He employs Robert Wolf as the caretaker
for his Huerfano herd. At any given time, Wolf tends about 400 yearlings as part of
Reeds operations. Edmundson and Wolf speculated the heifers death might have
happened at the same time the two steers
met their demise. All the cattlemen
agreed that heightened vigilance was in order and the next few days passed without
incident.
The calm before the storm?
It was the proverbial calm before the storm. While making his rounds on Saturday,
August 16th, Robert Wolf was dismayed to find four more of Tim Reeds heifers
dead real close to each other with no cause of death apparent. Wolf immediately
called the sheriffs office which quickly dispatched Deputy Sheriff Clint Boehler to the
scene in the vicinity of County Roads #120 and #122. This
time the only thing
missing from the downed heifers were the tongues. As Deputy Boehlers incident
report states: Due to the surgical type of mutilation lightning was ruled out.
Boehler noted that it was apparent that the parts had been removed with a
sharp
instrument. The incident was classified as Animal Cruelty (Bovine Excision).
Boehler concluded that the investigation was ongoing and there was no evidence of
motive or suspects. In his incident report, Deputy Boehler had mentioned what were
possibly tracks made by a 4 wheeler type machine. Robert Wolf disagrees with this
observation; There really wasnt. I could not see
it. All I saw was the yearlings
tracks. Both men agreed there were no human footprints in the vicinity. After Deputy
Boehlers visit, Robert Wolf called Tim Reed to discuss Boehlers findings. Reed
decided he should come and see for himself what was going on out at Turkey Ridge.
Reed made arrangements with Fowler veterinarian, Terry Root, to visit the scene the
next day. Reed wanted Dr. Root to perform complete autopsies on the four downed
animals and collect samples for lab testing. One of a cattlemans worst fears is a
disease which could quickly decimate a herd.
Vultures party down
While waiting for Tim Reed and Dr. Root to arrive on Sunday, August 17th, Robert
Wolf went about his usual rounds, watering and checking on the animals in his care.
Around mid-day, Wolf drove up one of his familiar roads to tend to some of the herd.
Driving back down the road about two hours later, Wolf was shocked and amazed to
see one of his yearlings lying dead in plain sight about 30 feet off the road. He
stopped and examined the animal carefully. He could see no signs of mutilation. The
tongue was still intact. Continuing his chores, Wolf stopped and looked at the cow
two more times in the next couple of hours. It was still totally intact. Shortly before 5
p.m., when Wolf was
to meet the vet at the carcass site, he arrived at the scene to
find three vultures busily going after the cows tongue. One vulture had the animals
tongue pulled out and the other two were furiously picking at it. As Wolf said: They
had it chewed up pretty bad and what they were doing was definitely not producing a
smooth cut. It was very ragged. When Dr. Root arrived, he did a postmortem on
the fresh carcass as well as the four animals he had originally been called out to
examine. According to Robert Wolf, Dr. Root cut back the jaws on the animals to
determine the nature of the tongue removals. Wolf later said that, according to the
vet, on all four of the yearlings, it looked like it had been done with a smooth cut,
like with a knife.
The spectre of anthrax
When contacted by phone on August 22nd, Tim Reed stated he didnt want to
comment on the situation until all the lab results were in: I dont think it was disease
related at all. They are too good a cattle. Were not sure if it was lightening, or
somebody shooting them or something else. With a sigh of relief, Reed said, The
one thing we do know so far is that they didnt have anthrax. Tim Reed had every
reason to be relieved. One thing cattlemen do not want to contend with is the
scourge
of a deadly anthrax outbreak. Above average rainfall this summer in parts of
Huerfano County has revived long-dry ponds creating ideal conditions for anthrax
spores to activate. The spores can lie dormant in
the soil for up to 70 years. An
anthrax epidemic swept through six Huerfano ranches in the fall of 1976, killing at
least 56 head of cattle, and 50 head of cattle died from anthrax as recently as
August, 2012 on a Sterling, Colorado ranch. The Sterling area was also the
epicenter for the great Colorado mutilation wave of 1975, with 70 reported cases
during that year. Incidentally, the first mutilation cases in Huerfano County began to
be reported in 1975, about a year before the 1976 outbreak. Also, it is well-known
that since WWII, virtually all of the worlds aspiring superpowers have actively
researched methods for weaponizing anthrax.

Bullets and darts
Tim Reeds conjecture that perhaps his six dead cattle had been
shot gave Robert
Wolf an idea. Wolf obtained a metal detector and set about doing his own
experiment on the dead animals. According to Wolf, On every heifer the detector
would beep and come up to a 6-7-8 reading in the hip, just the hip. Tests on the first
two Edmundson Black Angus steers, oddly enough, gave no reading at all. Wolf,
who loads his own ammunition, strewed several kinds of bullets on the ground. He
got the same 6-7-8 reading from the bullets. A vet and several experienced
observers have now looked high and low
on the animals and have failed to find any
bullet holes. I dont think they got shot, if anything it was some kind of dart and
youre never going to find a dart hole, Wolf said. Next
Wolf tested needles used to
give shots to cows and again got the 6-7-8 reading. His research on tranquilizers
and darts indicated that they usually break off in the animal. Thus far, Dr. Roots
forensics have yielded no bullets or darts. Tim Reed is now looking at ways of
getting an X-ray over the animals. Another possible clue worth noting is that, other
than some fairly minor bird action, no predators had scavenged the carcasses
even two weeks after their
deaths. The cattlemen found this very unusual. All agreed
that coyotes would have the bodies torn to pieces within a day or two of their
deaths. The puzzling exception to this rule was the heifer that
was found on the
Dennis Thompson fence line. Again, oddly enough, it was the only one of Reeds six
animals to show more than one characteristic of a classic mutilation. The other five
were only missing their tongues.

Bring in the unusual suspects
For the moment, all is calm on Turkey Ridge. But is it yet another calm before the
storm? As Beaver Edmundson puts it, Im not
sure this is over, but Im hoping that it
is. The lull has
allowed area residents a little more time for reflection and theorizing
about whats behind the recent weirdness. Like many communities who have
experienced the wrath of the mutilators, the theories tend to fall into the familiar
litany of saucers, Satanists or CIA. Thus far, the most discussed possible culprit
and motive seems to be the military or some covert government group testing new
hardware and exotic technologies. My gut tells me that its probably the military.
Theyve got those drones now, Ty Edmundson said.
I just cant believe they would do that
Cindy Driscoll, who lives with her husband Dave at the edge of the Cucharas
Reservoir, is not big on conspiracy theories but says, I
would not put anything past
this administration, or any administration really. Cindy and Dave maintain their own
airstrip and have two airplanes. Cindy said they see the big C-130 cargo planes and
helicopters fly by all the time, frequently at very low altitudes. I just wave at them,
she said. She also said the frequency
of overflights has significantly increased since
all this stuff started. Cindy noted that her neighborhood had been experiencing
several power outages a day in recent weeks. Robert Wolf points out the area lies
on a direct flight path between Ft. Carson and the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site to
the south. People here are used to all the flyovers. Its kinda neat to watch them
sometimes, Wolf said. He agreed there had been a lot more activity in recent
weeks.
Wolf hears all the talk about possible military involvement with the
mutilations but says, I just cant believe they would do that, thats all. Wolf then
notes that some recent troubling events are swaying me toward the military theory.
Black helicopters and powerful spotlights
On Wednesday evening, August 20th, Wolf was just stepping out of the shower when
he heard his wife Barbara yelling for him to come look at this helicopter! Robert
made it outside in time to see a little black helicopter, with no apparent markings,
dipping down into Cucharas Canyon. The helicopter would pop up and then dip out
of sight into the canyon. It did this repeatedly as it made its way slowly south toward
the Cucharas Reservoir and eventually disappeared from sight. Wolf thought it was
a bit odd, but not that out of the ordinary. Later that evening, things took a turn
toward the downright scary. Barbara awoke at about midnight to a bedroom that was
totally lit up. Robert got up and made it to the sliding door in time to see four large
helicopters within 100 feet of the
house. Wolf said they were staggered a little bit,
two side by side, then two more side by side. The lead helicopter was sweeping the
ground with a powerful spotlight. Robert later said the events of that day made him
realize they could come and take you out of bed before you even knew what
happened. The helicopter incident jogged his memory into a recollection of how he
had heard heavy helicopter activity late at night about two weeks previously,
possibly even the night of the first mutilations. He just had not put the two events
together in his mind until the evening of August 20th. Earlier that week, the
Edmundson family had experienced their own sightings of flying strangeness. On
Sunday evening, August 17th, the day that the last mysterious cattle death occurred,
Macey Edmundson saw 12 to 15 unidentified objects in the eastern sky. At about
8:30 p.m., Macey (the 14-year-old daughter of Ty and Kassi) called for her parents
to come and check out what she was seeing. The objects appeared to move and
then hover in place. Ty said the objects were flashing red, blue and white lights,
they seemed kind of circular, a saucer shape is what it looked like, Ty said. The
objects moved toward the northeast and eventually disappeared behind a cloud
bank. Despite his sighting of the unidentified craft, Edmundson doesnt put much
credence in the alien theory of mutilations. Nor does Robert Wolf: As far as aliens
and stuff, Thats out of the picture. Cindy Driscoll
doesnt exactly rule out the
possibility: Im not sure I think its people coming down from saucers, but if
somebody
has pictures
The full moon was when the nuts came out

The old warhorse Satanic cult theory of the mutilations
has seemingly fallen into
disfavor. Cindy Driscoll, who has a doctorate
in clinical psychology, said the
mutilations dont fit the
pattern of cults that practice animal sacrifice. She thought it
might be significant that the first animal deaths occurred two nights before the socalled Super Moon became full. I worked on the psych floor for nine years and we all
knew that the full moon was when the nuts came out. On the far end of the theory
spectrum, one seasoned ranch woman said: I cant help but think that we have no
knowledge of its kinda frightening to think that we might be targeted by these
aliens or spiritual beings coming from another dimension. I look at these dead
carcasses and I get to thinking that theres a logical way to explain this, but what is
it?
As Robert Wolf astutely puts it: Its a matter of what you believe. If you believe
its the government, you get government answers. If you believe its aliens, you get
alien answers. If you believe its all being done by predators, you get predator
answers.
Lasers: commercial aircraft targeted
One final note on a story that is still unfolding, which may provide a
valuable clue to
solving the Mystery of Turkey Ridge. Embedded in Deputy Clint Boehlers original
incident report is a rather astounding bit of information. According to Deputy Boehler,
in March of 2014, he was contacted shortly after midnight on a Friday night by
Denver FAA Air Traffic Control. They reported that some commercial aircraft had
been flying over Huerfano County at 32,000 feet and were hit with a powerful laser.
ATC Denver said the same laser operation had also been reported by commercial
pilots the week before. The ATC relayed the coordinates of the laser source to
Deputy Boehler who drove to the site with Deputy Ben Bounds. The location was a
remote pasture off County Road 120 about 1-2 miles
from where the [recent] dead
cattle were found. Quite a coincidence.
Home destroyed in early Saturday morning blaze

Walsenburg finds its expensive to tear down fire damaged homes
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Breen Burgson
September 26, 2014 at 9:38 pm
Normally
I do not get involved in Political
issues but my belief is that Homecoming is for
the kids the Panthers not time to suck up to
the public. Just saying Sheriff Newman.
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Head on over the La Veta Loco, tonight.
La Veta Loco, LLC

Tonight,
join us for "After Hours" as the Celtic
Festival descends upon the Loco
with Music and
Dancing by the Artists participating in the festival!!
Last years event was wonderful to watch and
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Museum's photo.
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More workshops! Learned about the role of
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