Cow Killers

THE OBSERVER

Are cow killers from outer space ?

(Editor's note: This Is the third in a series of articles on cattle mutilations In western states. Today's article deals with alleged UFOs and their possible connection with the the mutilations.)

By VERNA SLANE Observer Staff Writer

"It was Thursday night (Aug. 18). We were watching the special an TV," said a Grande Ronde Valley resident who asked to remain anonymous.

"About 10:35 there was some interference on the TV, and I got up to adjust the set. I turned and looked out the window and there was this round light; this bright, white light in the sky. It stayed exactly in the same place over the area at the upper end of 12th St."

"We watched it from the porch for a while, and It faded away. About 10 minutes later It reappeared, this time looking somewhat oval as though It had turned a little on its side."

Could this alleged UFO sighting have anything to do with the mutilation killing of the Rayburn heifer five days earlier?

Nancy Rayburn, in her report of, the heifer killing, had said, "The cows were `spooked'. They wouldn't let us get even close to them. They had torn out a large section of the fence and were scattered into the neighboring field."

The land is flat pasture, yet one calf belonging to the Rayburn herd has still not been found.

The Observer called the UFO Reporting Center in Seattle.

"I have one report which might be connected with cattle mutilations," said Robert Gribble. "It happened in March. There was a report of strange, white lights on a hill east of Everett. Wash. It was established that there was a landing there of some kind."

That same night, but several miles away, the report said, a steer was mutilated. It was discovered the next day.

A veterinarian who checked the carcass said it was definitely not predators and, he said, he could not duplicate the mutilation with any instruments he knows of.

In Logan County, Colo., Sheriff Tex Graves reports that approximately 50 per cent of the 73 documented, mutilations in that area were accompanied by UFO sightings.

"We have seen lights." he said, "with small ones coming out. They do their dirty work and return. We've watched them off and on for two years and have photographs."

In Union County, N.M., Deputy Leroy Howard investigated the death of a steer belonging to Forest Atchley. He said Atchley's brother had seen a bright light in the sky about 5 a.m. They found the steer about noon the same day. It had been mutilated, Howard said

Fritz Thompson, reporter for. the Albuquerque Journal, who Is investigating mutilations to Colorado and New Mexico, suggested The Observer might like to talk to Gabe Valdez, New Mexico State Police resident officer at Dulce.

The killing Valdez investigated occurred June 14. He said a rancher drove in to see him that afternoon.

"Something strange has happened to my cow," the rancher told Valdez.

Valdez drove out the next morning, arriving about 6 a.m., he said. The cow had been mutilated In much the same manner as the Rayburn cow, with removal of the left ear, the tongue and lower lip, the teats, rectum and vagina.

But, unlike other cases that have been reported, Valdez found tracks.

"The object landed on tripods," he said. "The imprints made by the landing were six feet by five feet by five and one-half feet apart. The pod prints were 14 inches across."

From the left side of the object, Valdez said. a smaller tripod object had emerged with suction cup type pods 28 by 28 by 28 inches. Grass in these tracks was dead.

Valdez said they showed the smaller object chased the cow about 400 feet, did its work, and went back.


But, Valdez said, the object had landed twice. There were tracks, he said, on top of the tracks made by the rancher's truck when he discovered the cow.

---

Nuclear Era