1977 Incidents

After the rash of incidents that were investigated in 1976, 1977 was a very slow year in terms of the number of reported mutilations. Only a handful of cases were investigated. Nevertheless, livestock mutilations were still a newsworthy topic. In fact, that fall Fritz Thompson (1977), a reporter for the Albuquerque Journal, published a major article in Impact, the journal's magazine. In this article, Thompson discusses some of the major mutilation cases that have been investigated, drawing heavily from Colorado. He also summarizes the major theories that had been advocated to account for the phenomenon. The impact this article had on the public is difficult to assess, but within the next few months more mutilations were reported.