Predation / Decomposition Explanation (Official Finding).
documentedgovernment_studyAnimal Mutilation
The forensic/skeptical explanation - the conclusion of the FBI and the 1980 Rommel Report - that 'mutilations' are ordinary deaths plus post-mortem bloat, livor mortis, desiccation, and blowfly/scavenger feeding on soft tissue. Documented as the official finding; contested by some investigators.
[COMPETING-DOCUMENTED] Mechanism: (1) post-mortem bloat stretches the hide until it splits along straight, incision-like lines exposing organs; dehydration shrinks/splits the hide similarly; (2) livor mortis settles blood by gravity and external blood is consumed by insects/desiccated, producing the 'drained' look; (3) blowflies, vultures, and small mammals (foxes, coyotes, bobcats, magpies) consume the softest, most accessible tissue first - eyes, tongue, lips, anus, genitals - leaving clean, surgical-looking edges. [DOCUMENTED] A 1979 Washington County, Arkansas experiment (Sheriff Herb Marshall) left a dead cow exposed 48 hrs and reproduced exactly these 'mutilation' features (bloat-split hide, blowfly-cleaned orifices). The 297-page Rommel Report (1980) and the FBI's 1980 closure statement both endorse this. [DISPUTED] RCMP investigators and independent 'mutologists' argue some confirmed cases (sedation drugs in lab tests, UV-fluorescent markers, cauterized edges) resist the predation model.