Looking Back: Cattle mutilation spree spreads fear in eastern Idaho

EastIdahoNews.com is looking back at what life was like during the week of Oct. 6 to Oct. 12 in east Idaho history.

1951-1975

EASTERN IDAHO — Cattle were being mutilated throughout eastern Idaho and an investigation centered around catching the mutilators was underway, the Idaho Falls Post Register reported on Oct. 11, 1975.

The mutilations were first reported on Sept. 19, 1975, in Fremont County. The Post Register published the first article in a series investigating the mutilations in October 1975, stating that there were up to 23 reported cases throughout the Upper Snake River Valley. The most recent case was of a three-day-old calf mutilated on a farm north of Rexburg.

Fremont County alone had 14 verified cattle mutilations at the time. In about 10 of the 14 reported cases in Fremont County, the blood of the animals had been removed. The paper said an average cow has about eight galloons of blood.

The Post Register explained that mutilated cows usually have sex organs removed, in addition to eyes, ears and its tongue. However, not all animals were having the same parts removed which led law enforcement to believe more than one person was performing the mutilations.

“The people are real scared here,” Fremont County deputy sheriff Terry Thompson said. “We are doing everything we can to catch those cattle mutilators.”

Due to so much of Fremont County rangeland being isolated, Thompson said if cattle are mutilated on the ranges, farmers might not know because the body decomposes so quickly.

Farmers in the Wilford, Egin and Chester areas organized patrol groups to watch over the farms at night. Thompson estimated about 100 farmers were involved in the patrolling and they were working in shifts and in pairs.

“If I catch someone out in my fields hunched over a cow, I will shoot first and ask questions later,” a Wilford farmer said.

LaVar Hunter, an Egin farmer, said he was participating in the night patrols because he’d “rather stay up all night as lose a cow. If they get that close on my property, they might go further and walk into my house.”

“If they have something that will knock down a 700-pound cow, what would it do to a man?” Rom Robinson, a Wilford farmer, asked.

Farmers patrolling the area at night were carrying loaded guns. Patrol stations were situated in various spots on the county road and all cars approaching the stops were checked to see who was inside and they were asked what they were doing in the area. New cars driving in the St. Anthony area day or night were also checked out via their license plates.

It was reported by local farmers that people in the area were more apprehensive about leaving home, day or night. The farmers advised people to not be out after 10 p.m. and said nobody should be in the fields late at night.

Farmers were getting their work done before dusk and telling their children to be out of the fields by then as well.

Thompson said three or four “unidentified flying objects” had been reported recently in the area but he and Rinehart both discounted the theory the mutilators were getting into the fields from helicopters.

The paper mentioned that farmers agreed it was not an animal doing the mutilations but that it was a human or humans.

“Whoever it is that says these animals were killed by coyotes hasn’t seen some of our animals,” a Wilford farmer said.

Gov. Cecil D. Andrus ordered Idaho Air National Guard pilots to “intensify their surveillance” of range lands during helicopter training flights in an effort to combat increased cattle mutilations.

“Starting today, all our Army National Guard helicopter pilots are being briefed on what to look for as part of their preflight briefings,” the governor said.

He added, “Numerous training flights are made across Idaho’s range land each day by these pilots. If they know what to look for I believe they can be of great assistance to sheriffs and cattlemen in combatting the recent rash of cattle mutilations.”

Thompson pointed out that when the people involved in the mutilations were caught, they will face a felony charge of grand larceny. If their vehicle is found on a farmer’s property, it would be impounded and sold at a public auction with the profits going into the county fund.

“This is serious business,” Thompson stated.

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