You can drive an hour on the highway and still be in central Oregon鈥檚 Crook County.
Perhaps, then, it鈥檚 easier to understand why patrolling the vast remote region is difficult.
Seven cattle have been found mutilated over the last three months in Crook County and the sheriff鈥檚 office is actively investigating and hoping for a break in the case. This follows in in rural Oregon.
鈥淲ell yeah, it makes us angry,鈥� Crook County Undersheriff James Savage told the public media Northwest News Network. 鈥淚t鈥檚 upsetting, because, again, it鈥檚 our livelihood. It鈥檚 how they make their money and how they feed their families and support themselves. And when this [the killings] is needlessly a waste.鈥�
One dead, mutilated cow was found in late February on private remote ranch land. The sheriff鈥檚 office asked ranchers to check animals. Then, six more dead cows turned up sprinkled through the county with missing body parts, according to Savage. He says there鈥檚 very little physical evidence.
鈥淚n a lot of cases we come down, it鈥檚 a burglary or theft or whatever,鈥� Savage says. 鈥淲e have suspects. We catch something on camera, or someone sees something, or witnesses something. But this is so rural, it鈥檚 just very tough to piece it together.鈥�
Other have been reported in Wasco, Umatilla, Harney and Wheeler and Lake counties in the last several years. The sheriffs from several of those counties .
鈥淒on鈥檛 be afraid to call,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f you see something, a suspicious vehicle or person in the area, also report it to us so we can try to run that down. [Ranchers] please be vigilant and check on your animals during this time.鈥�
Similar mysterious cattle mutilations, and those on wildlife like elk and deer, have been going on for decades across the country. The last reported cattle slayings in the nearly 3,000-square-mile Crook County were in the mid-90s, according to Savage.
Anyone with information on these recent cases can contact the sheriff鈥檚 office at 541-447-6398 during business hours.
