We don’t do many animal mutilation stories here at The Occult Section. Mainly because we don’t come across too many. They are out there, though. Honestly, the animal mutilation stories don’t really intrigue me all that much. Sure, they are mysterious and strange, but often the explanations for the mutilations are even stranger. Why would extraterrestrials travel all the way to Earth to take a cow’s anus? Do chupacabras have surgical tools? And when all else fails, let’s just blame the Satan worshipers. But this recent story has another element: a strange footprint. Is Bigfoot feeling left out of the mix?
The mystery of the dead cow with the skin removed from half its face deepened this week with the discovery of a strange looking footprint.
The cow’s owner, Diane Schneider, said farmhand Javier Meja came across the track and photographed it with his cell phone.
“I didn’t see it myself,” Schneider said Tuesday. “It’s about as big as a man’s hand, it’s awfully large and was found about six feet from the cow’s body.”
The body was buried Saturday.
Island County Animal Control Officer Carol Barnes was intrigued by the footprint photo and forwarded it to sources in the U.S. Department of Wildlife and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. She hadn’t heard back as of Tuesday. She did show the picture to Dr. Robert Bishop, Island County coroner, but he wouldn’t hazard a guess, she said.
Since the story of the six-year-old Black Angus cow’s death appeared on Saturday’s South Whidbey Record, both Schneider and Barnes have heard of other recent cow deaths. Poisonous weeds, such as hemlock or tansy ragwort, were considered possibilities, assuming they’re in bloom. But none of the other cows had skin removed from half its face.
Barnes is hoping pictures of the dead cow and footprint will get around the Internet and some solid information might turn up.
“As of now, we just don’t know,” she said.
Honestly, this looks like a human hand or knuckle print to me. And I mean, there are plenty of farmhands around (no pun intended) who could have left the print.
