BEAR VALLEY — A mutilated bull mysteriously turned up dead at a ranch in Bear Valley last month with body parts removed.

According to a Feb. 28 incident report by the Oregon State Police, a rancher called a wildlife trooper to report a bull had been killed and mutilated on his ranch with its testicles, scrotum, tongue and lips precisely removed.

Mat Carter, a rancher from the Crown Cattle Co. near Seneca, said he reported the mutilation to the state wildlife trooper after discovering the dead bull roughly a quarter-mile to half a mile from his house.

The cause of death is unknown.

When Carter found the bull, it had likely been dead a few days and was already decomposing. The 24-hour window during which a necropsy could have been performed on the carcass had passed.

According to Carter, there were no signs of vultures, coyotes or other scavengers around the bull.

“There’s no tracks; there’s no signs; there’s no nothing,” Carter said.

He said it is hard to imagine anyone would have come onto his property, killed a bull, drained its blood and then cleanly cut out specific body parts.

According to Carter, with no evidence or leads to follow up for law enforcement, the incident remains a mystery.

This was not the first cow mutilation on his ranch, Carter added.

Several years ago, Carter said, he was almost sure one of his cows had been mutilated. However, he added, there was no way to say with certainty because he did not get to the carcass quickly enough before flies and other scavengers made it impossible to determine what happened.

He said a similar situation occurred in August, which is why he tries to inspect cattle deaths a little more closely when they occur.

Indeed, Carter’s situation is not unique. According to FBI records, since the 1970s, thousands of unexplained killings and mutilations of cattle have happened across the U.S.

Last year Wheeler County had five cases while Harney County has had four in four years, with the previous two occurring in May and June.

The cases, according to the FBI reports, are similar to Carter’s case, where a cow or a bull was found dead in a remote area with no signs of how someone could have made it into the area or onto private property undetected. In most cases, authorities have not found footprints, tire tracks or fingerprints. There is little — if any — spilled blood, and there are no visible puncture wounds, bullet holes or strangulation marks.

In the thousands of cattle mutilations that have occurred since the 1970s, a culprit has yet to be caught, according to FBI records.

The bizarre nature of the mutilation and complete lack of evidence in last month’s case make it all the more baffling and frustrating for Carter.

The longtime rancher does not believe the theories surrounding cattle mutilations. Some people believe them to be the work of aliens, while others have posited that demons or cults could be the culprit.

The mutilations simply do not make sense.

“It’s really odd,” Carter said. “There’s just no logical explanation.”