UFOs in the daily Press:

ANOTHER MUTILATED BOVINE, THIS TIME IN LA TIGRA

LA TIGRA (San Bernardo Special Agency). Just when the SENASA report seemed to have done away with all of the theories that invaded our country and province with regard to cattle mutilations, a journalist from La Clotilde, Miguel Van Ek, informed EL NORTE of the existence of a case in La Tigra, in a field some 10 km away from the urban center. The pasture field, located in Lot 12, belonging to Horacio Salivar, 35, held a bovine who met the same fate as other similar ones which made the national news.

Salivar remarked with stupefaction that a neighbor had told him last Tuesday that there was "a flutter of crows" over his field. Upon reaching the field, he found that an 11 month old calf had died, but revealing strange injuries, among them the absence of eyes, tongue, maxillary muscles and anus.

The cattleman, confronted by this scene, alerted the local police unit, which in turn informed the Livestock Agency, contacting Pedro Tomas Bosch and the provincial capital's Rural and Ecological Police. But as of late Thursday, no one had visited the site, which leaves the rancher helpless in the face of the entirely atypical and fear-inspiring event.

Other singular aspects beyond the injuries which apparently caused the animal's death is the fact that there was a considerable number of crows flying over the area, but contrary to what is usually the case when an animal has died, none of the birds dared approach the dead bovine. Nor did the other bovines, who usually surround their dead companion, at least in the initial moments, came close. In this regard, rancher Salivar stated that "it's evident that its been dead for a few days, but it's neither stiff nor smelly. One of my cows died a while back, and in that case, the crows ate it up in a matter of hours. This is very odd, and it's the first time I've seen it." he said.

Moreover, the rancher manifested his annoyance toward the health authorities on the provincial or national levels, as well as municipal ones, "which did not even offer to provided me with minimal assistance," after the event was reported. He explained that "if I don't hear any word by tomorrow (meaning today) I will incinerate the anima, because I don't know what might happen. It could have a plague or something similar." Furthermore, the rancher said that "in all my years of working with livestock, I've never seen anything similar, only lately through television, when all of the cases became known at the national level."

Finally, Salivar highlighted that both he and his farmhands refuse to touch the animal, "because it's something weird... I don't believe, as it is said, that the mouse is involved, because in looking at the animals position and body, it is very strange for it to die like that and that its eyes, tongue and everything else should be extracted so cleanly. Some days have gone by and there's still no odor. This is very weird," he insisted.