This article was published on June 22, 2002, by the newspaper Diario Rio Negro, Argentina.
Specialists believe that the incisions "were not casual". Results for necropsies performed in La Pampa are awaited
Several technical professional groups of SENASA and INTA are currently in the pastures of Buenos Aires and La Pampa. The phenomenon of cattle mutilations led to the formation of groups aimed at finding a rational explanation that will bring an end to the mystery and the fear which pervades country dwellers.
"For the time being, work is being conducted in the fields in which mutilated animals appeared. Sites are being analyzed and necropsies have yet to be performed. In any event, when a conclusion is reached, the media and the cattle sector will be informed," said a SENASA spokesperson in a telephone interview from the Federal Capital.
It turned out, however, that technicians did not find an explanation to the lesions presented by the animals. But from the get-go, all supernatural phenomena were discarded. "These are deliberate rather than casual incisions. But thre is no explanation up to now," were the words spoken by specialists who visited the cattle farms.
Meanwhile, analyses are being performed on the animals found in the General Pico area. But as of last night, the expert research being conducted in the School of Veterinary Sciences of the University of La Pampa had not been completed.
Moreover, technicians for the Atomic Energy Regulating Committee who performed a survey of various fields of La Pampa in which mutilated cows were discovered, discarded the presence of abnormal radiation levels as the causes of the deaths, as a response to the version which alludes to the presence of UFOs in the region.
The specialists joined the investigation initiated by a team from the School of Veterinary Sciences and the Office of Provincial Livestock, who tried to determine the cause of death of the bovine, equine and ovine animals. In the tour of the various rural establishments in which dead cows were found - missing different organs - technicians performed measurements with a Geiger counter that measures beta-gamma radiation. Technicians reported that the"the levels encountered are normal", and thus discarded the possibility that the animals died from "high levels of radiation."
In the meantime, these strange cases are taking place in an increasing number of provinces. In Chaco, a dead bovine presenting signs of anal and ocular mutilation was found in a field close to General San Martin, some 120 km north of the capital. The story was confirmed by the head of Region V of the Chaco Police, Raul Maldonado, who witnessed the phenomenon alongside a veterinarian on the force. According to Maldonado, the field's foreman found the animal on Sunday, but waited for the arrival of the field's owner, Alfredo Pegoraro, to inform the authorities.
Both men went to see the bovine and were able to see that in spite of the days elapsed since its death, the natural decay process had not occured in this case, and furthermore, no carrion birds had approached the animal. A similar episode has occured in various Buenos Aires locations where carrion animals approached the mutilated calves but left them untouched, according to physicians who looked into the cases and who said that there is hitherto no answer to this mystery and to a hundred similar cases in the area. "I spoke to the School of Veterinary Medicine of La Pampa and I was informed that all the material was forwarded to Balcarce and the University of La Pampa, but there's been no information in this regard," explained veterinarian Alfredo Notti.
"The mutilations do not seem to be the handiwork of humans or animals," opined Eduardo Sensi, a veterinarian who examined a bovine found days ago 85 kilometers from Coronel Pringles in a field belonging to Indalecio Fritz. In Bolivar, a livestock producer reported that one of his animals had been mutilated and "different part of its anatomy were missing....the bovine is missing both ears, the tongue, a piece of hide from its forehead and flesh from its jawbone."
A UFO was seen Wednesday night in the vicinity of Puente Dique over the Rio Colorado in Catriel, some 25 km. from the province of Neuquen. The alleged UFO was seen by truckers and people working in the provincial traffic control of the La Pampa/Rio Negro Route. Most witnesses concur that the UFO was seen around 21:00 hours and was over the area of Penas Blancas, giving off a powerful red light that increased and diminished in intensity.
Jorge Hernandez, an operator in the Puente Dique, stated that "the light was suspended for more or less 20 minutes and we lost it from sight...the light became very strong and then appeared to dim. It moved in bursts and then remained immobile... it couldn't be a plane or helicopter because of the way it remained still. I wasn't the only witness, many other folks around here saw it. Some say the lights are related to the dead animals," he concluded.
In General San Martin and other localities of the Province of La Pampa, several residents remarked having seen "strange lights" in recent days. Sheriff Gustavo Martinez, in charge of the Bernasconi section, says he ascertained the existence of a strange light in the sky after having been alerted by the neighbors. "It changed color and size constantly, sometimes reddish and then blue. It was significantly larger than star, more like the size of a tennis ball," stressed the police chief.
(Photo: INTA specialists have been unable to discover the nature of the cattle mutilations.)
Translation © 2002. Scott Corrales, Institute of Hispanic Ufology, Special Thanks to Gloria Coluchi.
