Open Skies, Closed Minds by Nick Pope

Author:Nick Pope [Pope, Nick]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Thistle Publishing
Published: 2015-03-31T22:00:00+00:00

6

SLAUGHTER OF THE INNOCENTS

The year 1967 was a record one for UFO sightings. It was also the year when the mutilations started. In September, a mare called Lady was found dead in a field on a Colorado ranch near Mont Blanca in the San Luis Valley. The animal's flesh had been ripped from the neck backwards along the body, yet there was no blood on the ground. There were no signs of a struggle and no tracks indicating who or what might be responsible. An autopsy revealed that the cuts on the horse's body had been caused by something that generated huge amounts of heat, which could only have be a laser. And some of the mare's internal organs had been removed. There were burn marks found nearby, which showed traces of radioactivity.

Just as UFO sightings before 1967 are sporadic and the records have not always survived, so we have no idea whether animal mutilations of this type occurred earlier. Perhaps they weren't reported at all; certainly, they didn't make the headlines, unlike the death of Lady, the Colorado mare. But as Kenneth Arnold's 'saucer' sighting in 1947 first led to a public awareness of the UFO phenomenon, so Lady's slaughter created an awareness that something was going on, in Colorado at least. Reports multiplied, reaching a peak during the 1970s – and not just in America, but all over the world. Horses, sheep and cattle were the most common targets, but most of the examples have certain common denominators: despite horrific mutilations, there was no blood on the ground; internal organs had been removed and, perhaps most significant of all, so had the genitalia, irrespective of the animal's sex.

The scale of the problem remains unknown. Unlike the UFO phenomenon itself, which has its extremist cranks and is thus newsworthy; unlike crop circles, which have a natural beauty and charm irrespective of how they are made, the mutilation of animals is abhorrent. Most of the coverage of it lies in local newspaper libraries and UFO literature. There is no central register. As with UFO sightings, it may well be that what has been reported is merely the tip of the iceberg.

Where reports are made, the first port of call is usually the police. Animals are valuable to farmers and cherished by families as pets, particularly among the British, who pride themselves on being a nation of animal-lovers. In the States, of course, the likelihood of animals being attacked by predators is greater than it is in Britain. Laying aside for the moment the possible existence of Surrey pumas and their ilk, our natural predators are the fox, birds of prey and, in remote parts of Scotland, the wildcat. A strong horse or cow need have no fear of any of these, although sheep, especially lambs, have been taken by all of them as well as by dogs. The United States has the coyote, cougar, wolverine, bear and a larger range of birds of prey than we do, all of which pose more of a threat to both pets and livestock.

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