Background
A bison bull, last seen alive on March 10, 2008, was found mutilated on March 13, 2008 in a circle of melted snow. The animal had a. cored rectum and was opened from his sex organs area. He was 12-13 years old and weighed 1780 pounds. He was in excellent health and had received all his inoculations. The herd included 14 other bulls. In another, nearby field were 200 bison cows and calves. The object is to determine anything anomalous in hair, hide and soil samples from the site. Following are photographs of the site.
Conclusions
- The Bison hair sample contains 3-hydroxyanthranilic acid. The source of this compound is unknown. It cannot be related to a common substance introduced into the head by the farmer or from the environment of the bison. A literature search most commonly referred that it is a metabolic product of tryptophan.1 Tryptophan was found in high levels in a mutilated cow in Utah. It was thought that the Utah animal had been sedated with tryptophan before euthanasia.2 This analyst speculates that this may have been the case for this Bison.
- No anomalous materials are detected in the site soil samples. The usual soil components were detected: silicate mineral, inorganic carbonate, inorganic sulfate, humate material.
The Analysis
This post was published on November 8, 2016