More than 10,000 cattle deaths were reported across the county by 1979. More than 100 were reported in New Mexico between 1975 and 1980.
"One thing about it was they seemed to be healthy animals," said Bobby Pierce, deputy director for the New Mexico Livestock Board.
In the mid to late 1970s, cows were dying and no one could explain why. They were often found mutilated, sometimes with no blood, certain organs missing, and precision cuts in various sections of the carcass.
"Usually all swollen up," Pierce said. "Its eyes, ears, tongue, soft tissue, sexual organs and stuff missing from them."
Some questioned if UFOs were behind the deaths. Others speculated the involvement of a mysterious criminal enterprise, or secret government operatives. The strange deaths were making headlines across the country. Eventually, New Mexico ended up at the center of the cattle-mutilation mystery. The FBI got involved at the urging of New Mexico Senator Harrison Schmitt.
In a December, 1978 letter, Senator Schmitt wrote to then U.S. Attorney General Griffin Bell "...very concerned at what appears to be a continued pattern of organized interstate criminal activity."
Bell responded by mail the following month, referring to the subject as "...one of the strangest phenomena in (his) memory."
To read the rest of the article, click here.