Talk:Cattle mutilation

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Insurance fraud?

A German news article claims insurance fraud may be behind some cases of mutilation. It cites this Mexican website:

https://www.altillo.com/articulos/ovnis.asp

Who speaks Spanish and can translate it? It might be one of the more reasonable explanations for the whole phenomenon.

--Mths.baumann (talk) 07:09, 15 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Regardless of how reasonable it is, this source doesn't appear to be particularly reliable, so we wouldn't be able to use it. –Deacon Vorbis (carbon • videos) 12:46, 15 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I think insurance fraud is the only reasonable explanation and it should be mentioned in some form in the article. Natural causes like scavengers and decomposition can be ruled out in my opinion. These would have been familiar to farmers for millennia and would be no particular cause for concern. Also, they don't explain why cattle mutilation often appears to occur in waves and only in certain places.

No, cattle mutilation is certainly done by people. And the fact that, to my knowledge, no-one has ever been caught red-handed clearly points to the farmers being the perpetrators themselves (and the fact that the "victims" often appear to be young, and therefore valuable, animals).

Surely, someone more reliable than that Mexican journalist has come up with this hypothesis before? However, I've been unable to find any reliable articles on the web... Who can help? --Mths.baumann (talk) 16:49, 20 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

The purpose of this page is not speculation and original research. It is for improving the article. Can you please do this somewhere else? --Hob Gadling (talk) 17:57, 20 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Done As other said the proposed link wasn't a RS, but Valdez mentions the insurance fraud theory so we use his denial to educate the reader on the possibility. Feoffer (talk) 02:20, 21 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I don't follow this section.

I don't follow this section. It seems like some (intervening) information is missing or was deleted?

The "Snippy" horse mutilation

Animal mutilation was relatively unknown until 1967, when the Pueblo Chieftain published a story about a horse called "Snippy" that was mysteriously killed and mutilated in Alamosa, Colorado.

On September 9, 1967, Agnes King and her son Harry reportedly found the dead body of their three-year-old horse. The horse's head and neck had been skinned and defleshed, and the body displayed cuts that, to King, looked very precise. No blood was at the scene, according to Harry, and a strong medicinal odor was in the air.

The story was republished by the wider press and distributed nationwide; this case was the first to feature speculation that extraterrestrial beings and unidentified flying objects were associated with mutilation. A subsequent investigation by Wadsworth Ayer for the Condon Committee concluded that "There was no evidence to support the assertion that the horse's death was associated in any way to abnormal causes".

When the Lewises phoned Alamosa County Sheriff Ben Phillips, he told them that the death was probably due to "a lightning strike" and never bothered to visit the site. Early press coverage of the case misnamed Lady as Snippy. Snippy was Lady's sire and belonged to Nellie's husband, Berle Lewis. Later press coverage mentions that the horse had been shot "in the rump". However, two students from Alamosa State College confessed to sneaking out into the pasture and shooting the horse several weeks after the case was publicized.

In the RED section ... Who are the Lewises? They have not been previously mentioned. Who is Nellie and her husband, Berle Lewis? They have not been previously mentioned.

Thanks. 32.209.55.38 (talk) 02:37, 24 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Done thanks! it's fixed now. Feoffer (talk) 02:17, 21 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

High strange

This article contains the phrase "high strange" again and again as if that's a phrase that's both apparent, or real in any way. It's a pseudoscience word and should be removed or properly contextualized with quotes. 97.101.53.250 (talk) 16:34, 22 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Done purged the term from the article. Feoffer (talk) 02:26, 21 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Colm Kelleher

Biochemist Colm Kelleher,[47] who has investigated several purported mutilations first-hand...

The link on this person's name goes to a bank.

No objection so I removed the link while keeping cite [47]. 57.135.233.22 (talk) 10:21, 2 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Chlorpromazine

The article states: "Chlorpromazine (Thorazine), was used to tranquilize" Chlorpromazine is not typically used as a sedative, it is a typical antipsychotic. Veterinarians use it as an antiemetic. Dimadick (talk) 11:02, 20 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I clipped the news article in question, so readers can directly verify that Valdez did claim it was used to tranquilize the animals. I'm just getting my bearings on this whole topic, but it looks like Chlorpromazine (Thorazine) has in fact been used to tranquilize wild game. Feoffer (talk) 02:11, 21 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Finding sources

"The mutilation killings began back in 1970 in Lyon County" cited in O'Brien to The [Brainard Daily Dispatch, Brainard, MI,12-27-74] but not in source unless I'm missing it
Newsweek Mauraders story? when

Feoffer (talk) 08:54, 3 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]