The Rommel Investigation — The FBI's Definitive (and Controversial) Report on Cattle Mutilations (1979)

In 1979, retired FBI agent Kenneth Rommel was appointed by the First Judicial District Attorney's office in New Mexico, with funding from the federal Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, to conduct a definitive investigation into cattle mutilations. Over the course of a year, Rommel investigated 15 cases in New Mexico, consulting with veterinary pathologists, forensic scientists, and livestock experts. His final report, 'Operation Animal Mutilation,' concluded unequivocally that all examined cases could be explained by a combination of natural death, bloating, scavenger feeding, and post-mortem decomposition processes. Rommel demonstrated that the 'surgical precision' described by ranchers was consistent with the clean, straight edges produced when taut, desiccated skin splits along natural tension lines. He showed that the absence of blood was normal in animals dead long enough for blood to settle and coagulate. And he argued that the selective removal of soft tissue organs was consistent with the feeding preferences of scavengers like blowflies, ravens, and coyotes, which preferentially target eyes, lips, tongue, genitals, and the anal area. The Rommel report remains the most comprehensive official investigation of cattle mutilations and is cited by skeptics as the definitive debunking. Proponents counter that Rommel's 15-case sample was unrepresentative of the broader phenomenon.