This investigation was initiated by the New Mexico State Police as the result of a report made by Deputy Tommy Box of the Eddy County Sheriff's office. On December 27, Sgt. Bob Dodgin of the New Mexico State Police arrived at the scene. Accompanying him were Deputy Box and Morgan Bates of the New Mexico Livestock Board.
The animal, a 300-pound heifer, was found lying on its right side. It had been dead between eight and twelve hours. The soft tissues both above and surrounding the nostril were missing, as was the nostril itself. No other damage was noted. The feces oozing from the rectum contained blood and mucus, which is obviously one reason why this area is such a likely target for predators.
The calf appeared to have been sick. In fact, the officers on the scene decided it had probably died of pneumonia. This diagnosis was later confirmed by Dr. Dean Reynolds, a Carlsbad veterinarian. The calf had just been shipped to this area from south Texas. In fact, all the calves in this particular pasture were sick and being treated for "shipping fever" or pneumonia by Dr. Reynolds.
No tracks were observed at the scene, but as the official report points out, this was probably due to the hardness of the ground and the fact that many cattle had been milling around. However, the report also notes there were several wild dogs in the area. The officers suspected that the skin an meaty area of the nose had been eaten by scavengers. They further theorized that something had started eating on the carcass but was scared away at daylight perhaps by traffic from the road, which tan only a few yards from the carcass.
It should be kept in mind that all of the cases investigated under this project -- with the exception of the T-Bone and Cordova incidents -- were reported as mutilations. Furthermore, in the majority of these cases, the term "surgical precision" was used to describe the damage.