This remains one of the most bizarre mysteries in the United States (and other countries as well) and it shows no signs of going away. Ranchers around the country have reported repeated instances of finding their otherwise healthy cattle dead in their fields. That unfortunately happens from time to time for a variety of natural reasons. But these cattle have all been mutilated in various ways. The latest such deaths showed up in Texas this month, where six cattle spread out across three counties were discovered to have been killed. All of the animal’s tongues appeared to have been “surgically” removed, along with other cuts near their genitals. And authorities could find no tracks to follow or any hint as to who or what may have killed them. (KSAT News)

No signs of struggle, no blood spills, and no noticeable tracks. Authorities in Texas have little to go on in their investigation after six cattle were found dead in three separate counties, all with their tongues missing.

The Madison County Sheriff’s Office posted about the cattle on social media Wednesday.

The first instance was reported after a rancher found a 6-year-old longhorn-cross cow “dead and mutilated” in Madison County, according to deputies. The cow was found lying on its side, its tongue and the hide around its mouth completely removed, but no blood was spilled.

Making the situation even stranger is that there appeared to be no blood spilled in the vicinity of the cattle’s bodies. And despite laying out in the field for as long as a couple of weeks, no predators attempted to scavenge the corpses for food. No footprints or tire tracks were discovered near the cattle.

This has been going on since at least the 1970s and attracted plenty of law enforcement attention. The FBI has an entire section of its online FOIA documents related to the investigation of cattle mutilations. Suspicions have been raised about the culprits being anything from satanic cults to extraterrestrials. Even deeper conspiracy theories have suggested that it’s all part of a government program to test weapons of mass destruction. And yet no good answers have been offered.

Last year, Fox News Nation released a half-hour documentary on the history of this subject that I very much enjoyed. It covers some of the oldest cases and some of the more recent ones as well. (You need an FNN subscription to watch it, but they have a promo code that will give you a month for free and you can cancel before it’s over if you wish.)

This phenomenon has been showing up more than you might suspect. Ranchers in Alaska were hit so often last year that they were offering thousands of dollars as a reward to turn in the culprits. (There were no takers.) Mutilated animals have shown up in Alaska, Florida, and in Colorado in just the past year. Many have had entire organs removed with no clear sign of how it was done. There have occasionally been helicopters or other aircraft spotted in the vicinity, but never any signs of a landing. And these killings generally take place in very remote areas of the range so there aren’t any witnesses.

I spent some time in my youth working on my uncle’s cattle ranch during the summer, but I never saw anything like this. These killings aren’t just a mystery. They are a crime that causes real financial hardship. The ranchers lose between three and five thousand dollars for each adult beef cattle that die. As I said above, sometimes cattle will die from natural causes, but when someone (or something?) is coming along and slaughtering them in large numbers, that’s a crime.