A rash of bizarre animal mutilations has Victoria-area law enforcement baffled . . . and paranormal experts ready with possible answers.

Karen and Wayne Daggs once enjoyed a thriving herd of 21 Barbado sheep on their 10-acre plot of land in Port Lavaca. But after a series of inexplicable disappearances and brutal attacks that started in March, the couple now finds themselves completely flock-less this week.

The Daggs initially suspected the sheep were stolen for food or profit until they began to come across strange carcasses. Female sheep were discovered missing vital organs, their bodies cut open with a surgical precision. Several other rams were castrated.

No evidence. No tracks. No witnesses. No signs of forced entry through the Daggs' fences.

"I can't think of a reason aside from rituals or malicious mischievousness for the mutilations," Calhoun County deputy Bobbie Vickery tells the Victoria Advocate. However, he remains unsure how suspects could have made their way into such a highly-secured property and then manage to remove the Barbado sheep, which can weigh up to 75 pounds.

Enter Charles Stansburge, a Rosenberg-based field investigator with the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) who arrived at the scene on Tuesday.

"No one knows the purpose of the mutilations. The crime is not solvable," he tells the Advocate. The smooth, almost laser-like incisions — not to mention the a general lack of blood and an absence of tracks on the Daggs property — are very much in line with other mutilation cases he's investigated in the last two decades.

Stansburge cites a similar mutilation case from the 1990s in which the bloodless corpse of a horse was found Colorado. He says its entire nervous system had been removed and a bag of strange contraptions was located nearby, prompting the sudden arrival of notorious "men in black."

In the end, Stansbruge feels the mutilations have something to do with a 1947 galactic battle involving five species of aliens . . . You know, the most logical explanation.

Meanwhile, local law enforcement remains committed to less far-fetched possibilities.

"We're looking at mutilation in general," says Calhoun County sheriff George Aleman. "The last incident I remember was in the '70s — satanic worship stuff."

Those with information about the missing and dead sheep are asked to contact Calhoun County Crime Stoppers at 361-552-CASH. Tipsters with details leading to an arrest are eligible for up to $2,000 in reward money.