Across thousands of documented cattle mutilation cases from the 1970s to the present, investigators have identified a consistent set of characteristics that distinguish these incidents from ordinary predation or disease. The most commonly reported features include: precise removal of soft tissue organs (eyes, ears, tongue, lips, genitals, and rectum) through apparently surgical incisions; complete absence of blood both in the carcass and in the surrounding soil; lack of tracks, footprints, or signs of struggle around the body; avoidance of the carcass by scavengers and predators, sometimes for days; and the presence of the carcass in an area with no evidence of how the animal arrived there (no drag marks, no broken fences). In some cases, investigators have reported that the incisions appear cauterized, as though made with a heated instrument, and that the bones near excision sites show evidence of high-temperature exposure. Ranchers have also reported unusual phenomena near mutilation sites: unexplained lights, helicopter activity, electromagnetic interference with vehicle electronics, and areas of flattened grass in circular patterns.
The consistency of these characteristics across geographically dispersed cases — from Montana to New Mexico to Alberta — is one of the most compelling arguments against the scavenger explanation.