Background

Identify two samples of red-brown particles retrieved from the testicles and chest area of an excised bull. The bull was found on the Barton Ranch on 1-17-97, around 24 hours after the excision happened. A compass was reported to give a 20° deviation when held over the excisions.

Conclusions

Both residues are identified as bovine hemoglobin, a component of blood. It’s presence suggests a processing of the whole blood has occurred at the excision site. Additionally, the chest area sample has a very small amount of possibly a long chain glyceryl ester.

The usual procedure for isolating hemoglobin from whole blood is rather complex. It involves separating red blood corpuscles from the lighter plasma components by centrifugation. The plasma is siphoned off and ether is added to the corpuscle paste, causing the cells to burst. Another centrifugation removes the ruptured cell envelopes, and leaves a clear red solution of hemoglobin. It is unlikely that a procedure such as this would be done on site. It is unknown how or why this occurred.