One of the strangest and most disturbing aspects of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena concerns their apparent connection to the mutilations of animals, typically farm stock. Other animals, including family pets, also have been mutilated and killed.
Caused by agents unknown and agencies unidentified, the odd deaths of cattle, horses and other large animals in most unusual circumstances have plagued American farms and ranches since at least the 19th Century. In thousands of cases reported in North America since 1967, cattle and other animals have been found to have undergone strange and violent trauma.
Typically, a healthy creature like Dinty the Longhorn-mix Bull (pseudonym) is living life on the central Texas prairie, enjoying companionship of the herd and plenty of food, water, air and sunshine. One morning, Dinty turns up missing. A short time later, a ranch hand in a neighboring county finds a dead bull on top of a shrubby hill.
In many cases, the tongue and the flesh around one side of the lower jaw have been excised. A sharp edge marks the injury, sometimes forming a corrugated line, apparently cauterized or free of ruptured blood vessels. Also reported missing are other parts of the animal, from eyes and ears to udders and genitalia to colons and rectums — found to have been “surgically” and bloodlessly removed. In almost all cases, the carcass appears to contain no blood.
The cause of death and the instrument used are unknown. The wounds are startlingly made, incisions are cleanly made. Predators, such as a coyote or hawk, would leave tears, bites and other identifiable trauma.
The scene where the animal mutilation was discovered is usually free from the animal’s blood. In the case of a 900 pound bull, missing from the carcass and scene is about 8 gallons blood.
Also missing are any footprints, traces and tracks, including sign of predatory animals. Investigators have reported over the decades that it appears as if the animal was dropped from the sky.
UFO and UAP have been reported in a number of occasions associated with animal mutilations and disappearances. While even more rare, a few reports include entities associated with the phenomenon. In almost all cases, no arrests or identification of the responsible party has been made in the animals’ deaths.
The Other Night, Outside My Home
Sometime during the night of May 3, 2025 and the morning of May 4, 2025 something seems to have cut a wild rabbit in half and left its remains on the exact line dividing my neighbor’s yard from mine. We discovered the rabbit beside the driver’s side door of the car. All that really remained were the back half of the torso, legs and tail. The front portion was entirely missing.
A brief examination revealed a “surgically precise” wound — an incision going completely around the torso. The cut perfectly delineated the two parts of the rabbit, almost as if it were along the “center line” demarcated by the diaphragm that divided the rabbit into rough halves.
The “front half” of the animal was missing. Gone were the head, neck, front legs and torso including the rib cage and all the internal organs of the chest cavity. The remaining “back half,” with all the digestive organs of the lower abdomen, and a pair of healthy looking legs and feet, seemed complete, though lifeless.
The wound area revealed a clear membrane that precisely separated the two body halves. There was a hole in the center of the membrane, possibly under where the stomach had rested, and through which the various circulatory and alimentary structures passed.
The remains also included muscles and bone that seemed to contain a minute amount of blood and fluid tissue, principally where the spine was severed. However, there was no blood around the cutting wounds or on the transparent tissue that seemed to seal the body cavity from where its anterior section had been.
The animal appeared to have been recently killed. There was no apparent signs of decomposition or smell. A single ant was at the edge of the wound. There was no blood on the ground, nor body fluids.
One important point to consider is the symbolism of something so bizarre, if not grotesque. The rabbits in my neighborhood are relatively defenseless creatures, menacing nothing more civilized than a vegetable garden. So, really: What is the point in killing a rabbit by cutting it in half, apart from giving warning, inciting terror or sending a message? What that message is and where it may come from may not be from this world.
The image at the top of the page depicting a wild rabbit in a neighbor’s yard was made August 15, 2023. The two images of the mutilated rabbit were taken minutes after the animal was discovered on May 5, 2025. The ant at the edge of the wound turned around and walked off.
The Expert Analysis
Dr. Jacques Vallee addressed the subject and its possible manipulation by human cults in “Messengers of Deception: UFO Contacts and Cults.” Dr. Vallee finds that the impact of the phenomenon on the human mind and human behavior are under-appreciated by investigators, academics and the public at large.
In “An Alien Harvest: Further Evidence Linking Animal Mutilations and Human Abductions to Alien Life Forms,” ufologist Linda Moulton Howe chronicled the mutilation phenomenon and asked if the phenomenon has played a role in human deaths and disappearances. Dr. Vallee wrote the forward to Ms. Howe’s fearless work.
For a representative sample of the mystery, a link to a 2023 investigation of the phenomenon from CNN: Six cows in Texas found dead and mutilated with their tongues cut out have left police searching for answers. I believe it isn’t the final word on this disturbing subject.