A series of brutal sheep mutilations are perplexing Port Lavaca residents, and have even caught the attention of a popular member of the UFO investigation community.
Wayne and Karen Daggs have lost 21 of their prized Barbado sheep since July, most recently losing two just days ago. The Daggs live on 10 acres that back up to a bayou.
The Daggs' strange story began this summer when four young female sheep went missing.
"At first I lost four little ones," said Daggs. "I thought people were taking them for food."
He first suspected it had something to do with a rumor of illegal immigrants living in a trailer nearby.
Daggs said he could forgive people for stealing the animals to eat, but as he started finding them mutilated, things took a stranger and more sinister turn.
Wayne Daggs spent 23 years in law enforcement, and 18 of those as a constable with Calhoun County Precinct 4. Since retiring in 2000, he's been tending to his animals.
He came to think that he may have angered someone during his years in law enforcement or elsewhere.
"I worked hard to not make enemies while I was on the job," Daggs said.
Recently, it had been every five days that he lost an animal, usually a few at a time.
Barbado sheep weigh 60 to 75 pounds, so they wouldn't be easy for any of the predators found in Calhoun County to take them away, Daggs says.
He found one of his males castrated. A local vet attempted to save him but he had to be put down.
"It doesn't look like a coyote got at them," he says. "I think that a person is doing this."
A week ago, a male sheep was found by the pond, castrated, with his cause of death unknown.
Then three females went missing, and he found two of them.
"One of them was found in the pond, stabbed behind the ear. Another had had its female sexual organs removed." The organs were sitting next to the sheep.
The removal looked very surgical to Daggs.
Five days later, he found vultures dining on another female. It was hard to tell what killed that one.
"I can't think of a reason aside from rituals or malicious mischievousness for the mutilations," Calhoun County investigator Bobbie Vickery told the Victoria Advocate.
Calhoun County sheriffs had been involved since the beginning of Daggs' sheep killings. This is where the Mutual UFO Network and section director Charles Stansburge comes in.
Stansburge saw an Associated Press story about the mutilations and contacted the sheriff's office. They welcomed his help.
He's based out of Rosenberg and has been with MUFON for three years. He has investigated cattle mutilations and UFOs for over two decades, previously in the Colorado area.
"It's an ongoing investigation so I can't talk too much about it," says Stansburge. He says that the documents related to his investigation are confidential.
"We need to find out what is getting in the property," says Stansburge. He has no comment on what he personally thinks it is.
"It could be a man, a wolf, an E.T. or anything," he says. "We're trying to lean towards earthly things."
Daggs says his grass been untouched around the mutilated animals with no traces of people or animals. He says that there would have to be some sort of evidence in nearby clearings to point to who or what is doing this.
That part bewilders Stansburge as well and is a part of the investigation.
"What really gets me is the lack of tracks and evidence," Daggs said. "It's not just kids. Whoever is doing this knows what they are doing."
He thinks whoever is doing this is doing to for kicks or some other weirdness. There is no history of this in the area, according to Daggs.
Daggs puts the cost of the animals he has lost at around $1,250, but it's much more than that to him. He has emotional ties to them.
Daggs had grown very fond of the first male that was mutilated. His voice cracks a little when he speaks about him.
"It hurts me severely," said Daggs. The animals were very much a part of his family.
Calhoun County Sheriff George Aleman is leaning towards this being the work of a human, and not a very nice one.
"It wasn't a wild animal, which would tear the meat," Aleman says. "This was too clean to be an animal. Whoever did this knew what they were doing."
Aleman said this is an ongoing investigation and is being handled by the county as a case of theft of livestock and mutilation.
By the way he speaks about a group of self-proclaimed Satanic worshipers that were in the area in the late '70s, the sheriff has seen some strange things.
That group was linked to cattle mutilations similar to this, but Aleman is not linking this to devil worshipers.
"This could be someone who has nothing else to do but hurt animals for kicks," he says.
The Calhoun County Sheriff's Department is offering up to $2,500 for any information regarding the sheep mutilations. They are asking that anyone in the area who has had animals go missing or mutilated to also contact them.
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