A macabre mystery that pops up around the world has surfaced once again on a secluded Saskatchewan farm. The most recent case of cattle mutilation occurred in the Stockholm area, just yards away from where Heather Harris and her husband slept. Harris was out tending the cattle the next day when she made the grisly discovery. "It's hard to describe what she looked like ...," Harris said, recalling finding the cow's corpse. "I told my husband, 'You don't even want to see this.' " The pregnant cow was missing its rectum, female organs, udder, navel, top and bottom lips, one ear and one eye. The animal's tongue appeared to be cut out. Harris said there was no sign of blood in the area, and all of the injuries appear to be precise incisions. Harris said there were no signs of struggle in the area, and no tire tracks, footprints or blood anywhere around the animal. The gruesome scenario appears to be a classic case of "cow mutilation," a bizarre occurrence attributed variously to natural predators, aliens, government operatives, cults and a variety of other elusive sources. Mutilations first rose to public prominence in the United States in the 1960s, and have continued to surface around the world ever since -- including from time to time in Saskatchewan.Documented mutilations are remarkably similar and often involve the removal of one ear, the animal's eyes, udders and sexual organs, tongue and lips. They are also characterized by a lack of blood and what appear to be clean incisions and cuts.
