Rats blamed for mysterious cattle mutilations

South Florida Sun Sentinel ^ | Posted July 1 2002, 5:04 PM EDT | Reuters

[vannrox]

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - Recent mutilations of cattle and horses in the Argentine countryside were the work of rodents, scientists said on Monday, not ritualistic slayings by extraterrestrials or vampires as some farmers feared.

Argentina's national food and animal health inspection service Senasa sent its own ``X-Files'' scientists to the remote plains to look into the deaths of farm animals found mutilated and drained of blood.

Frightened farmers claimed to have seen bright lights and UFOs in the area where the deaths occurred.

[vannrox]

Hum.

[FreeAtlanta]

I opened this wondering what the DemonRats were up to this time.

[Siobhan]

Rodents. Right. Yes. Move along now. Nothing to see here.

[patton]

"What about the Rodents of Unusual Size?"

"ROUS's? I don't think that they exist..."

[Dec31,1999]

These stories are really weird. And they're not new. I think the aliens, if they do exist, appear around times of high international tension for some reason. 1989 was another peak time.

[hole_n_one]

[JustSayNoNWO]

All this stuff usually happens in just a few hours.

Dang, those must be some fast rats.

[mdittmar]

Rats blamed for mysterious cattle mutilations

Yeah,HUGE UGLY ALIEN RATS,from the rodentsia galaxy.

I gotta get ahold of Art Bell,I'll be back;)

[JZoback]

...deaths of farm animals found mutilated and drained of blood.

Right: Rats drained the blood of cows and horses.

Must have been a really big rat.

They might have as well said giant leeches.

[#3Fan]

I'd almost forgotten about that. That was hilarious at the time. :^)

[TC Rider]

"ROUS's? I don't think that they exist..."

What about...

[Not_Who_U_Think]

I have a problem with this phrase:

"removed with surgical precision were victims of rodents, foxes or other animals."

So we really don't know what specific animal did this, or how they did it, but we'll make a WAG at it...

[LibKill]

These guys found out about the ROUS back in the sixties.

[RightWhale]

Giant leeches

Could be the work of the chicken-beak lamprey, normally found only in the deepest [undiscovered] trench of the Pacific, but transported inland by a freak storm. Rain of fish from the sky!

[Dec31,1999]

These stories of Cattle mutilations have been around for a long time, and they are very mysterious. Rodents don't just gang-up and surgically remove certain organs. It's just very weird.

[tippytoes]

Argentina is loaded with people involved in the occult. Animals and their body parts are greatly valued in casting spells, curses and used in ceremonies. Rats my a**!!

[HairOfTheDog]

Those must be some big rats!

[aculeus]

Art Bell, call your office.