Hoyt Velarde Finds Three Mutilated Cows on His Ranch
In 1997, Hoyt Velarde discovered three of his own dead cows with tongues, anuses and other organs missing, plus one missing its lips and jaw skin; all four shriveled carcasses had been untouched by scavengers.
Background
The Discovery
In 1997, Hoyt Velarde — already known in the Jicarilla Apache community for his 1964 and 1987 sightings near Dulce — found three of his own cattle dead on his ranch. One after the other, he inspected the carcasses and discovered that their tongues, anuses and other soft organs were missing. A fourth animal, examined separately, was missing its lips and the skin of its jaw.
The Shriveled State
What struck Velarde most was the condition of the carcasses. They had shriveled unusually quickly and had remained completely untouched by local scavengers — coyotes, ravens, and vultures — that would ordinarily dismantle a dead cow within hours.
Continuity
The discovery fits the classic profile of cattle mutilation cases documented by the National Institute for Discovery Science (NIDS) in the same time frame across the American Southwest, and Velarde's personal involvement across sighting and mutilation cases over three decades is part of why Coulthart presents him as a locally credible repeat witness rather than an isolated source.