ONLY ON NEWS FIVE.
A FAMILY FROM
CUSTER COUNTY HAD SEVERAL OF
THEIR
ANIMALS DIE -- ALL WITHIN A
SHORT PERIOD OF TIME.
THEIR SEARCH FOR ANSWERS ...
LED THEM TO CONTACT A RENOWNED
U-F-O INVESTIGATOR WHO IS BASED
IN COLORADO SPRINGS.
HE MET WITH OUR ANDY KOEN
JUST OUTSIDE OF WESTCLIFFE --
FOR THIS STORY ABOUT WHAT MIGHT
BE HAPPENING TO ANIMALS IN
SOUTHERN COLORADO.




NAT SOUND
EARLY THIS SPRING, THOMAS WALKER
HAD A HALF DOZEN ANIMALS ON HIS
LAND.
FOUR OF THEM DIED WITHIN A FEW
DA
"PIG WAS FIRST, I'M SORRY.
THEN TWO GOATS, THEN MY MARE."
AND A COUPLE OF WEEKS LATER ...
A STEER HIS GRANDSON WAS RAISING
FOR 4-H ALSO DIED.
WHAT STOOD OUT TO HIM WAS HOW
THEY ALL LOOKED AFTER THEY DIED.
"I HAVE NEVER SEEN ANY ANIMAL
JUST FALL OVER DEAD NO SCRATCH
MARKS, NO PAWING OR NOTHING."
NAT SOUND: IN THE TRAILER
THEY TRIED TO FIND A COMMON
EXPLANATION.
"THE STEER HAD ITS OWN SHOW
FEED, THE HOG HAD ITS OWN SHOW
FEED.
THE GOATS, THEY KIND OF ATE KIND
OF EVERYWHERE."
NAT SOUND: WATER TROUGH
THEY ALSO TESTED WATER SAMPLES
...
BUT THERE WASN'T ANY
CONTAMINATION THAT WOULD'VE
HARMED ANIMALS.




"YOU KNOW, ANIMALS DIE, BUT WHEN
THEY START COMING ON AFTER
ANOTHER, BUT BY THE TIME WE PUT
TWO AND TWO TOGETHER.
AND WE COULDN'T HAVE GOTTEN
ANYTHING OUT OF THEM GOATS
ANYWAY."
NAT SOUND: ZUKOWSKI GETTING OUT
OF HIS TRUCK
FRUSTRATED, THEY CALLED UFO
INVESTIGATOR CHUCK ZUKOWSKI
"WHEN YOU DON'T KNOW, YOU TRY
AND CHECK EVERY AVENUE."
ZUKOWSKI IS KNOWN NATIONWIDE FOR
HIS THEORY ABOUT THE PARANORMAL
SUPER HIGHWAY.
IT'S A THEORY THAT STARTED WITH
ANIMAL MUTILATION
INVESTIGATIONS.
"I ALWAYS KIND OF DRAW THE WAY
THE ANIMAL WAS LAYING AND WHAT
DIRECTION THE ANIMAL WAS LAYING
AND I ALWAYS PUT IN THE GPS
COORDINATES."
AS HE WAS COMPARING NOTES ON
DIFFERENT CASES -- HE NOTICED
THEY TEND TO CLUSTER AROUND 37
DEGREES NORTH LATITUDE.
THIS CASE MATCHES THAT
GEOGRAPHIC PROFILE --AND SO
DID SOME
ANOMALIES ABOUT THE WAY THE
HORSE DIED, IN PARTICULAR.
"EVEN THE DEPUTY SAID, "I DID
AND OBSERVE THAT THE ANUS OF THE
HORSE HAD BEEN REMOVED AND THE
EDGES APPEARED TO VERY SMOOTH."
THOSE SMOOTH CUTS HAVE BEEN A
UNIQUE PART OF ANIMAL MUTILATION
CASES IN COLORADO GOING BACK
DECADES.
WALKER'S HORSE WAS REPORTEDLY
PREGNANT WHEN IT DIED ...
BUT NO COLT WAS EVER FOUND IN
THE NECROPSY
"IF SHE SLOUGHED THE COLT, IT
WOULD HAVE HAD TO HAVE BEEN A
WEEK OR SO BEFORE SHE DIED." AND
"IF SHE SLOUGHED THE COLT, IT
WOULD HAVE HAD TO HAVE BEEN A
WEEK OR SO BEFORE SHE DIED." AND
HE SAID HE NEVER SAW THE HORSE
BLEEDING.
THE VET WHO DID THE NECROPSY
TOLD ZUKOSKI THERE HAVE BEEN
SEVERAL ANIMALS DEATHS IN THIS
PART OF THE STATE.
"AND THAT'S SCARY TO ME BECAUSE,
I KNOW HOW TO DEAL WITH THE
PARANORMAL STUFF, BUT IF IT'S
GETTING INTO VIRAL OR SOMETHING
THAT'S AIRBORNE, THE PEOPLE THAT
LIVE IN THIS AREA THEY HAVE A
RIGHT TO KNOW, THEY NEED TO
KNOW." SO, WE VISITED ONE OF THE
RANCHES WHERE A LARGE NUMBER OF
COWS WERE REPORTED TO HAVE DIED.
THE RANCHER WOULD NOT ALLOW US
TO FILM ON HIS LAND BUT SHOWED
US THAT WASN'T THE CASE.
HE HAD DUMPED THE CARCASSES OF
THE THREE OR FOUR COWS IN A
RAVINE ON HIS LAND.
THEY WERE DIAGNOSED WITH
ANAPLASMOSIS ...
A FORM OF YELLOW FEVER.
THAT DIAGNOSIS WAS BACKED UP BY
THE STATE VETERINARIAN.
"WE WERE AWARED OF THAT
DIAGNOSIS AND THERE WERE A
NUMBER OF PEOPLE IN THE
COMMUNITY THAT WERE RIGHTFULLY
CONCERNED."
THE STATE VET ADDED THERE WAS NO
COMMON THREAD TO EXPLAIN ALL OF
THESE ANIMALS DEATHS.
FOR EXAMPLE, THE COW THAT
WALKER'S GRANDSON WAS RAISING
...
WAS A GIFT FROM THOSE SAME
RANCHERS.
THE NECROPSY DIDN'T SHOW
ANAPLASMOSIS ...
BUT RATHER BLOAT.
4:36 "MANY TIMES IT IS WITH
ACCUTE BLOAT THEY CAN GO FROM
BEING RELATIVELY NORMAL WITHIN
AN HOUR OR TWO TO BEING IN A
POSITION WHERE THEY'RE
COMPROMISED AND CAN DIE." 0:11
ZUKOWSKI SAID NOT ALL OF HIS
INVESTIGATIONS COME UP
UNEXPLAINED.
"THERE WASN'T AS MANY ANIMALS
THAT WERE FOUND DEAD AND MAYBE
NOT MYSTERIOUSLY." BUT YOU NEVER
KNOW UNTIL YOU CHECK.
ANDY KOEN NEWS 5.




ANDY, ASKED THE STATE VET ABOUT
THE STRANGE CUT ON THE HORSE
THAT DIED.
HE SAID THAT COYOTES AND OTHER
SCAVENGERS WILL CHEW AT THE SOFT
TISSUE OF DEAD ANIMALS -- AN
