UFOs in the daily Press:

AUTHORITIES STATE THAT THE RED-MUZZLED MOUSE DOES NOT EXIST IN LA PAMPA

Government dismisses SENASA report on cattle mutilations

The provincial government dismissed yesterday the official report presented by the National Health and Agroalimentary Quality Service (SENASA) regarding the causes of death and mutilations of dozens of bovines, since the "red-muzzled mouse", the alleged perpetrator of dozens of bovine deaths and mutilations, is not found in La Pampa.

This was made clear by the Minister of Production, Nestor Alcala, who pointed out that the rodents of this species "are unknown to me, nor do I believe they form part of the Pampan fauna."

Veterinarians and agronomist engineers echoed this sentiment. Gustavo Siegenthaler, director of the National Museum of History of La Pampa, noted that "this species has not been found in the surveys we have conducted."

From 1986 to 1992, Siegenthaler headed a multidisciplinary team which produced a reportentitled "Survey of Vertebrates in the Province of La Pampa." "We have placed between 70 and 120 traps each night and have never found that species, and it does not appear in the bibliography either," he stated.

The book "Mammals of Argentina" by the Migule Lillo Institute, indicates that the "red-muzzled mouse" lives from Mesopotamia [IHU Note: name given to the region of Argentina between the Paraná and Uruguay Rivers] to northeastern Buenos Aires province. "It cannot have spread to other areas, because it would have been detected," he explained. "And in the event that they were the authors of the mutilations, it would be assumed that they would be more or less significant populations, thus making them easy to find, which has not happened.

Veterinarian Maria Parturlane said that "the anapathological lesions (on the mutilated cows) cannot be said to have been caused by a mouse." Medical veterinarian Alberto Pariani, Academic Secretary and Professor of the School of Veterinary Medicine at the National Univ. of La Pampa at Pico, after reading the SENASA report, considered that "there are always field mice, but for example, in the cases we found in the field, there were no traces of rodent fecal matter."

Meanwhile it was learned yesterday that a mutilated cow was found in the "San Juan" pasture field near Algarrobo del Agula, owned by Pablo Bravo. Alcala said that "the report these people have put together (meaning SENASA, based on research from Universidad del Centro in Buenos Aires) may be what they saw, but I don't know that it agrees with what is happening in La Pampa or other parts of the country."

The SENASA report states that the mutilated bovines died "due to natural causes" and that subsequent lesions on the hide and organs were caused by predators such as rodents and even foxes in some cases. The health organization thus attempted to pour cold water on the subject, but few have believed in this version of the events.

Furthermore, the Uruguayan government ruled, on the same day that the report was issued, that mutilations in that country were produced by the German Wasp (yellow jacket).