Gabe Valdez and the Dulce cattle mutilations
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 9
| Date | 16 February 1979 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Nuclear & missile sites (topic), Secrecy & cover-up (topic), Congress & law (topic) |
| People | Gabe Valdez, Harrison Schmitt, Kenneth Rommel, Paul Bennewitz |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 88 |
| Year | 1979 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 1979 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 10 |
Gabriel L. "Gabe" Valdez (c. 1944–2011) was a New Mexico State Police officer who, in the late 1970s, investigated cattle mutilations around Dulce on the Jicarilla Apache reservation and came to believe that a government operation was responsible. An FBI memo of 16 February 1979 records his views.[1][2]
Background
Valdez grew up on a ranching family's land south of Tierra Amarilla. He joined the State Police in 1969 and, after brief postings in Española and Chimayó, was transferred to Dulce.[1]
The investigations
In the late 1970s cattle found dead with organs removed and apparently precise cuts were reported across the western United States. On 16 June 1976 Valdez investigated a mutilation on Manuel Gomez's ranch, reporting that a three-legged aircraft had landed twice and scorched the grass. By 1979 he had worked on 32 cases in about three years and was described as the state's chief source of information on mutilations. In May 1979 he told the press that a bull found in Torrance County that February contained chlorpromazine, a tranquilliser, and another drug, and that the perpetrators were well organised and not from outer space.[1]
Federal involvement
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Senator Harrison Schmitt of New Mexico pressed for federal involvement, and on 20 April 1979 he and U.S. Attorney R. E. Thompson held a public meeting on the mutilations in Albuquerque, attended by about 80 people. There electronics businessman Paul Bennewitz told Valdez he had seen unidentified lights over Kirtland Air Force Base. The FBI then opened an inquiry on tribal lands, and a federally funded investigation led by former FBI agent Kenneth Rommel concluded in its 1980 report, "Operation Animal Mutilation", that most cases were consistent with natural death followed by scavenger damage. Valdez and others rejected that conclusion.[1][2][3]
Later life
Valdez retired from the State Police around 1992, became an investigator for the Gaming Control Board and in 1996 joined Robert Bigelow's National Institute for Discovery Science. He died on 7 August 2011.[1]
Legacy
Mark Pilkington's 2010 book Mirage Men and the 2013 documentary of the same name described how Air Force disinformation targeted Bennewitz and Valdez, helping turn Dulce into the centre of legends about an underground alien base. Valdez's son Greg wrote that his father never believed aliens were involved, and argued the mutilations were a government program studying radiation effects from Project Gasbuggy, a 1967 underground nuclear explosion about 21 miles southwest of Dulce.[1][4]
People and topics
- Federal Bureau of Investigation — The U.S. federal police agency, which helped check flying disc reports from 1947 to 1950.
- Dulce — A New Mexico town linked to legends of an underground alien base.
- Gabe Valdez — New Mexico State Police officer who investigated cattle mutilations near Dulce.
- Harrison Schmitt — Apollo astronaut and New Mexico senator who pressed for a cattle mutilation inquiry.
- Kenneth Rommel — Former FBI agent whose 1980 report attributed most cattle mutilations to natural causes.
- Disinformation — False information spread deliberately to mislead.
- Paul Bennewitz — Albuquerque physicist targeted by Air Force disinformation in the Bennewitz affair.
On the Timeline
- Mississippi UFO resolution (1979) (February 1979) — A Mississippi resolution calling for a Senate UAP investigation dies in committee.
- Hampton Roads bodies claim (1979) (5 April 1979) — A source says 13 bodies and two saucers were stored at a base in Hampton Roads, Virginia.
See every 1979 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- Gabe Valdez — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- FBI records on animal mutilation, FBI Vault · vault.fbi.gov · archived copy
- "Cattle mutilations across Wyoming and the West in 1970s still a mystery", Cowboy State Daily (Oct 2024) · cowboystatedaily.com · archived copy
- Paul Bennewitz — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- FBI animal mutilation files (archived FOIA index) · webarchive.library.unt.edu · archived copy
- Rommel report: Operation Animal Mutilation (1980) — text · ufopedia.pages.dev · archived copy
- FBI cattle mutilation files (1970s) — UFO Scans · ufoscans.com · archived copy
- files.afu.se · files.afu.se · archived copy
- archive.org · archive.org · archived copy
- nebula.wsimg.com · nebula.wsimg.com · archived copy
Further reading
- UFO files — FBI Vault · vault.fbi.gov · archived copy
- Cattle mutilation — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Animal Mutilation file — FBI Vault · vault.fbi.gov · archived copy
- Los Alamos National Laboratory — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
This page was last edited on 29 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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