Dozens of Cattle Slaughtered by Mystery Creature That Left No Tracks

Dozens of cattle have been slaughtered by a mystery creature in Colorado that left no tracks.

In October, 18 dead cows were found near the town of Meeker, Steamboat Pilot & Today reported on Sunday. Some, but not all, looked like they could have been killed by wolves, but officials from Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) have found no tracks or evidence of them in the area.

But whatever is killing the cows appears to still be on the rampage. Since October, as many as 40 dead cows have been found around the same area.

Wildlife officials have done everything they can to try and find the animal. They have set up trail cameras and aerial flights and still have found no trace of the culprit, the newspaper reported.

CPW Northwest regional director Travis Black said on November 17, according to Steamboat Pilot & Today: "It's perplexing; it's confusing; it's frustrating, trying to figure out exactly what occurred in this incident. We have no evidence of wolves in that area. That doesn't mean they are not there."

Further investigations into what may be killing the livestock are still underway. Cows can develop a number of fatal diseases.

Wildlife officials believed it could be the Clostridium bacteria, which can cause gut distress and subsequent death in cows. But veterinarians have ruled it out, Sky-Hi News reported.

"We're scratching our heads," Black said.

Although wolves may still be the cause for the deaths, there is little evidence to establish this.

"What we're lacking in my opinion, is that typical feeding behavior that we would see... typically wolves would come back and feed on a carcass," Black said.

The incident comes as gray wolves slowly make a comeback to Colorado. Gray wolves used to be abundant in the state before they were completely eradicated by the 1940s.

Colorado is also aiming to implement a wolf reintroduction program, approved by voters in 2020. The plan, which aims to reintroduce more wolves to the state by the end of 2023, is to be presented to the CPW Commission on December 9, according to Steamboat Pilot & Today.

Wolves sometimes migrate into Colorado from nearby states. They are likely populations from the Northern Rockies, across Montana, Idaho and Wyoming.

If wolves are the predators responsible for the killings, it would mean that they are passing through into Colorado earlier than is seasonally expected, Steamboat Pilot & Today reported.

The decision to reintroduce the species has not always been popular. Some farmers were concerned about the wolves taking their livestock, but biologists have said the reintroduction is vital for the state's ecosystem, as it would restore predator-prey balance in the area.

Executive director of the International Wolf Center, Grant Spickelmier told Newsweek: "The presence of wolves can bring many benefits to wildland ecosystems, but their ability to thrive is directly dependent on how well they are tolerated by local human populations."

Colorado is home to a variety of other species, such as the mountain lion. But officials have not confirmed whether the species is a potential suspect.

It is not certain how many wolves are in Colorado but in 2020 wildlife officials established there were as many as six. And in 2021, one of them gave birth to six pups.

But it remains unclear how many remain. In October, three female wolves were found dead in Wyoming, near the Colorado border. Officials believed they belonged to Colorado's only wolf pack.

"Unfortunately, wolves can't see state boundaries and it is easy for them to cross borders into zones where they are less tolerated," Spickelmier said.

In Wyoming, it is legal to hunt the species any time without a hunting permit. In Colorado however, wolves are a protected species and hunting them is illegal.

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