The truth is out there

By Bill Donovan
Staff Writer

GALLUP — The FBI has long denied that it has any department within its ranks like that portrayed in the television series "The X-Files" but there was a time back in the late 1970s when the FBI took a hands-on approach to the possibility that UFOs may be involved in a series of cattle mutilations that had been occurring in New Mexico.

The investigation by the FBI into cattle mutilations was started by a request from then New Mexico Sen. Harrison Schmitt, the former astronaut, who said his office was contacted by ranchers in Dulce after they discovered 15 cattle mutilated in their area.

There had also been reports of cattle mutilations in the Crownpoint area in the early 70s and in Apache County, Ariz. in the 1960s.

According to documents released by the FBI several years ago, field offices in the West began getting letters from members of Congress in the mid-1970s, asking for an investigation because of reports that hundreds of cattle mutilations had been occurring annually on ranches in the West.

On August 29, 1975, Floyd K. Haskell, the senator from Colorado, had asked the field office in that state to investigate the strange goings-on.

"The ranchers and rural residents of Colorado are concerned and frightened by these incidents," he wrote. "The bizarre mutilations are frightening in themselves: in virtually all the cases, the left ear, the left eye, rectum and sex organs of each animal has been cut away and the blood drained from the carcass but with no traces of blood left on the ground and no footprints."

A perfect case for Scully and Mulder. Unfortunately, the FBI had no X-Files department, so they began an internal investigation trying to determine a logical explanation for the mutilations.

FBI officials pointed out continuously that there was nothing in Congressional law that allowed the agency to investigate the ranchers' concerns. However, the FBI did have jurisdiction to investigate cattle mutilations that occur on Indian reservations and as such "would take into account mutilations occurring elsewhere which showed a similar MO."

The primary focus then was on the mutilations of 15 animals which reportedly occurred on Indian lands within New Mexico in 1977 and 1978. Since the animals had already been destroyed, the FBI said it would have to rely on past investigations for its report.

After the investigation had been going on for a few months, a conference was held on April 20, 1979 at the Albuquerque Public Library. Chaired by Schmitt, about 180 people attended the three-hour conference.

Gabe Valdez, who was a state police officer in Dulce, said he had investigated more than 90 cattle and six horse mutilations in his area during the previous three years. He said that he was convinced the mutilations of the animals was not the work of predators because of the precise manner of the cuts.

This is the same Valdez who in other newspaper accounts of the mutilations had been quoted as saying that "any place we've had a mutilation, we have also had UFO sightings."

David Perkins, director of research at Libre School in Farasita, Colorado, said he has been mapping the reports of cattle mutilations since 1975. "The only thing that makes sense about the mutilations is that they make no sense at all," he said.

Several scientists at the meeting brought up the possibility that they may have been caused by extraterrestrial aliens. Other theories that were brought up was that these incidents were being caused by Satanic cults or by "some unknown government agency."

Dr. Claire Hibbs, a representative of the State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at New Mexico State University, said he had been involved in investigation similar cases in Nebraska and Kansas, and had concluded that in some cases the animals were mutilated by sharp instruments or by predators. He also thought some of them were pranks.

Carl Whiteside, an investigator for the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, said his office had investigated 203 reports of cattle mutilations between April and December of 1975 and looked into the possibility that some civilian or military helicopter was involved in placing the cattle on the ground so there were no footprints going up to or away from the cattle. No helicopters were discovered to be in or around the area where the cattle mutilations had occurred.

After the conference, law enforcement officers met with the U.S. Attorney of New Mexico, R.E. Thompson, for another rounds of talks about the problem.

Investigators from both Alabama and Montana said their studies of dozens of cases of cattle mutilations in their area revealed that they were the work of "intentional mutilators and not of predators."

Neither meeting came up with any logical explanation for the mutilations, and several months later the FBI issued a statement that the investigation had been closed down.

"Various theories concerning the origin of the mutilations were explored by the FBI, including satanic cults, UFOs, pranksters and natural predators. The investigation failed to identify any individual responsible for the mutilations," the FBI statement read.