Argentina: Mysterious Mutilations Continue
By Quique Mario, CEUFO
Animal mutilations remind us of the strange events that rocked the province nearly ten years ago. Pratt, 51, owns a locker manufacturing facility in Alta Italia. He told the El Diario newspaper that “animals mutilated in a similar fashion” were found on his fields just like they did back then.
At the time, the phenomenon was ascribed to extraterrestrial beings and served to nurture peasant superstitions like the “Chupacabras”. SENASA advised at the time that mutilations in over a hundred of these cases could be blamed on the “red-muzzled mouse”. However, this species does not exist in the region and the mystery was never explained.
Pratt did not make his discovery widely known; some friends discouraged him because “they say that these are just fantasies that people make up.” However, the story became known and Alta Italia’s FM radio station broadcasted it this Wednesday morning.
German Schreiber, the officer-in-charge of the Sheriff’s office, traveled on Wednesday noon to the “El Iman” ranch, belonging to the Pratt family. It is located 13 kilometers from town, and he was accompanied by the town’s veterinarian.
“He was unable to determine the cause of death. It’s just like the cases that occurred at that time,” noted the policeman.
In an interview with El Diario, Pratt says that his foreman found two Aberdeen Angus calves, each weighing 350 kilograms, mutilated in a very strange way and without any traces of blood around them. All this in a 60 hectare spread.
“One was missing its scalp completely, all the way from the muzzle to the left. The bone has been peeled away at the carretilla, and the tongue is missing along with skin from its throat. There isn’t a single drop of blood anywhere; the incision of the skin is perfect, as if done with a razor,” he says, astonished.
The other animal is missing its upper teeth. It’s upper lip is burned to a dark blue, and half of its tongue is missing. No other signs are visible.”
The discovery stupefied the employee who came across the animals as he toured the property, and even Pratt himself. “The man has been working in the field for forty years and is used to seeing dead animals, yet he never saw anything like it. I’ve also seen many dead animals, but never under these circumstances,” he added.
“Carrion animals aren’t involved. No way. It isn’t a puma, or a wild boar, or even a carancho,” he noted.
Aside from the dead animals, two gates along the ranch fences were found with their chains broken, and the ox cart was disconnected.
Pratt did not inform the police, nor did he make the case known to any other agency, since he is well aware of the reply offered by SENASA at the time. “They determined that it was either a mouse or a carancho (vulture). I know that. But if you ask me, I’ll say no. This is something that I’ve never seen, something that really attracts attention.”
Along with his son Mauricio, 18, he took photos of the animals, which were left on the field in a state of decomposition.
Pratt is 51 and he is known in town as “an earnest man.” “I know the subject. I was raised in the countryside. I’m not crazy. I’m normal, like any other local,” he jokes, as he recreates the circumstances of time and space in which the surprising animal mutilation occurred. “The kid who surveys the fields left at one o’clock and returned the next day at noon. [The mutilation] must have occurred during the course of that afternoon, night and the morning of the next day. We found no signs or traces that suggested that the death had been brought about by a bullet or something. We don’t know what killed them.”
“The incision is perfect. Completely so. It’s very strange. That’s my definition. I can’t say what it is, but it’s no carrion eater, vulture or puma,” he adds.
The field where the animals appeared is not close to any rural road or route. “I know about livestock, and I’ve seen many dead animals, but never anything like this,” he insists. “I would like to have someone study this so that the matter can be cleared up someday. At the time they blamed carrion animals, and that’s why no progress was ever made. I find that odd.”
“Did you feel fear when you found this?” asks the El Diario interviewer.
“No, bewilderment. The foreman’s been a cattleman for over 40 years. All the more so, it isn’t normal. He’s a man used to seeing all sorts of animals.”
Yet he admits having allowed paranormal phenomena enter his mind: “Some talk about flying saucers because they must be mentioned, if only to say something. The same goes with witches. I say I don’t believe in them, but they exist, they really do. How can I not believe? But I think its something else. Otherwise those weird things would turn un. I’m not saying that a flying saucer is going to come to my house, but this is weird. It’s surprising. It’s not lightning from a storm or anything customary. This is surprising.”
(Translation (c)2011, S. Corrales, IHU. Special thanks to Guillermo Gimenez, Planeta UFO)