Altered Steaks: Strange Phenomena Still Rattles New Mexicans

It’s been awhile, but the strangeness still haunts many Northern New Mexicans. Were they space aliens, government “men in black,” time travelers, secret corporate scientists, cultists, natural predators or plain old pranksters that caused the spate of “cattle mutilations” here and other parts of the world?

During a spree that that lasted from the 1970s through the mid-1990s, occurring not only to cattle but untold numbers of other animals, a blanket of fear and mystery settled over certain parts of Northern New Mexico.

Bracketing them was the manner in which the majority of these incidents were made public, often by self-appointed investigators. In general, evidence was described as “unexplained,” “unusual” and “bizarre,” not to mention, “linked” by certain characteristics. But more interestingly, at least to skeptics, was how established authorities regularly offered more practical, common sense and completely ordinary explanations that were dismissed as efforts to debunk the investigator’s work or to cover up a deeper mystery.

Gabe Valdez, a former New Mexico State Police trooper, who looked into many reported cattle mutilation incidents in the Southwest, appeared in a KOAT-TV Channel 7 report last May saying he knows who did it. But, because he considers his findings too delicate, he isn’t about to reveal them ... yet. Which, of course, only adds fuel to the fire surrounding these acts.

According to the well documented lore, classic cases involved the discovery of an animal, typically a cow or bull, lying dead in a field bearing inexplicable wounds, little or no blood in evidence, and no solid clues that might lead law enforcement to the culprits. What leads to so much puzzlement is that certain organs are usually removed “with surgical precision.” These are usually listed as the rectum, liver, sexual organs, tongue, eyes, ears and portions of the hide.

Some incidents have included references to fluorescent markings not placed by the animal’s owner and even evidence of radioactivity. Many of these incidents also have been accompanied by reports of UFO activity, mysteriously silent black helicopters and alien visitations.
Because of the number of people calling themselves investigators or experts on the phenomena running around whenever an incident was made public, John Paternoster, who as district attorney in Taos in the 1990s, decided there needed to be an authentic law enforcement approach to finding out who was responsible — not what.

“UFOs became the leading suspects in at least two ‘cattle mutilations’ that displayed evidence of air turbulence and strange mechanical tracks found near the scene,” according to a story published in 2000 by former The Taos News staffer Phaedra Greenwood. “In 1997 in Arroyo Seco, District Attorney John Paternoster and investigating officer Gabe Valdez discovered mysterious tracks in a field where a bull was found dead and ‘mutilated.’ Mechanical V-shaped indentations were seen all over the field, back-hoe size, 18 to 24 inches in diameter, Valdez said. Gouge marks were five to six inches deep in some places and appeared to have uprooted the grass. Valdez said he had seen similar ground markings near a mutilation in Dulce in 1978. Dulce is on the Jicarilla Apache Indian Reservation in Northwest New Mexico and a renowned site of many other such sightings. The rancher who owned the bull and lived nearby stated he had noticed nothing suspicious the night before, but other witnesses testified that they had seen a green light flying in the area on the night of the bull’s death.”

Greenwood, who reported on a number of cases in Taos County during the 1990s, said that despite an enormous body of conflicting and sometimes bizarre evidence, there is still no clear idea as to the cause. “A UFO is just that,” she said, “an unidentified flying object.”

Recently, she began revisiting the reams of documents, reports, studies and Xeroxed copies of articles she has collected over the years in hopes of possibly compiling a book about her experiences with this phenomena. Among them are dozens of photographs taken at incident scenes which reveal in gory detail what someone or something has done to these animals.

“Every time I open the box, something new comes out,” she said wryly. While a lot of this is obviously of interest to fringe devotees and diehard sleuths, Greenwood remains convinced that someone is working rather hard to manage the information flow. “I think it’s an interesting story.”

“The truth is out there,” as Fox Mulder might say, but how the truth might be accepted is yet to be seen. Greenwood claims that incidents like this are still happening in this area, although most go unreported possibly because people don’t like the media attention or potential ridicule that sometimes follows. Some might be pranks meant for shock value, while others really are just predators or small earthly creatures doing their eternal jobs.

Inevitably, there will be a few incidents lying at the bottom of the bin that will never be explained, and it’s for those that true believers live to find answers.