The Madison County Sheriff’s Office in Texas is “actively coordinating with other agencies to find answers” after ranchers found six cows dead in suspicious circumstances, including that all had their tongues removed.
In a statement on April 19, the office stated that it found the six cows in separate “locations, pastures, and herds,” but all “in the same condition.”
The cows were described as lying on their sides, with the hide around their mouths removed on the side facing upward, via a “straight, clean cut, with apparent precision.” The meat under the removed side wasn’t touched.
Their tongues were also “completely removed.”
There was no blood spill surrounding any of the cows.
There were no signs of struggle or disturbance found in the grass surrounding the carcasses of the cows. There were no noticeable tracks, including tire tracks, around the area.
The cause of death of all the cows remains undetermined.
No predators or birds would scavenge the remains of the cows for several weeks after their death, so they were left to decay untouched during that time.
The cattle were found along Texas State Highway OSR. Investigators with the sheriff’s office were first alerted by ranchers to one of the deaths—a 6-year-old longhorn-cross cow—before finding out about the deaths of the other five cows. They included four adult cows and one yearling, found along the area of OSR running into Brazos County and Robertson County.
“Multiple similar incidents have been reported across the United States,” the sheriff’s office noted.
In 2019, five bulls were found dead in Oregon over the course of several days. All of their sex organs and tongues had been removed, and the blood was drained from their bodies. According to a report from The Associated Press, as in the new case of six cattle, there were no signs of struggle nor any tracks around the carcasses.
