A question for Chris. Have there ever been any Cattle Mutilations reported from Australasia? [sic] Would be interesting to see if there have been any from say New Zealand and Australia.
Yes. There have been quite a number of well-documented cases. The earliest I can find was from 1902. Here is an excerpt from the soon-to-be released
Stalking the Herd:]
Australian researcher Michael Smith has spent considerable time researching newspapers for odd bits of mutilation-related arcana and he has uncovered a number of intriguing, early unexplained livestock death reports worthy of consideration. One article, from the October 18, 1902 edition of the
Brisbane Courier, may be the oldest documented Australian cattle mutilation case on record:
'Reports have been received from the country at various times of cattle having been found with their tongues cut out, and the supposition has been that this mutilation has been inflicted by swagsmen and travelers [sic], who have come across the beasts dying from thirst and starvation, and have brutally cut out the tongues to secure a meal.
'The Chief Inspector of Police has, however, received a report from a mounted police patrol, which gives a much happier solution. This man, it appears, had been called in by a station-owner who had found quite a number of his cattle lying about dead with the tongues cut out it was noticed in each case that there were no marks of the animals having been shot or otherwise killed, though dead when found. Several had perished in creeks and gully holes.
'An examination of the heads showed that the tongues had not been removed in the ordinary way, through the gullet, but had been drawn through the jaws. It was also noticed that the lips and nose had in most cases been gnawed. One beast, apparently only just dead, was found with the tongue protruding through the teeth, and one-half of the member gone (sic). Returning, the next day the police officer saw that the whole tongue had disappeared, and from his observations he came to the conclusion that in this and the other cases, which had come under his notice, either Iguanas or bush rats were responsible for the mutilation of the bodies. Consultation with an experienced stockman in the same locality confirmed this.'
More modern Australia cases will be scrutinized later on, but some of our best-referenced pre-Snippy mutilation reports have occurred “down under.”
I've watched this a few times - and all I see is darkness with a small light in the upper portion and then suddenly I see the cows - one is very white. When does the cow lift-off as it were?