The owners of a ranch in Argentina are searching for answers after they lost both a cow and a horse to what appears to be the infamous cattle mutilation phenomenon. According to a local media report, the eerie case began last month in Villa de la Quebrada when a downed heifer was found with a cut jaw and its tongue, eye, and udder removed with what appeared to be remarkable precision. "What we found strange," one of the ranch owners recalled, "is that it had a burn inside the mouth like it was made with a laser." The situation became even more concerning last week when he noticed that one of their horses had gone missing, which led to another gruesome discovery.

To his astonishment, he soon stumbled upon the unfortunate mare, which had suffered a similar grisly fate, bearing "the same characteristics of the cow," including precise cuts to its jaw and carefully removed body parts. The rancher noted that in both instances, the remains of the slain animals were of no interest to scavengers that would normally feast on such a free meal. Understandably baffled by the two incidents, he was skeptical that the killings were the work of human hands. "It does not make sense for one or more people to do all this and leave the animal lying," he mused, arguing that a sinister miscreant would have at least taken the heifer's remains.

With that scenario having been dismissed by the rancher, he offered an otherworldly explanation for what might be behind the two unsettling events. Citing "news and documentaries we have seen," he pointed to two possible culprits: the chupacabras or aliens. That said, he conceded that the cases will likely remain a mystery as "the reality is that no one knows how to tell you exactly what may have happened to them or what would be the cause." What do you think downed the rancher's animals? Are the incidents a case of the cattle mutilation mystery going international, or did they perish under more prosaic circumstances? Weigh in with your thoughts at the C2C Facebook page.