Chuck Zukowki (image credit: Alejandro Rojas)

On February 11, 2011 two deputies went to the home of Chuck Zukowski to relieve him of his badge, gun and ID, handing him a termination letter ending his eight year stint as a reserve sheriff’s deputy in El Paso County, Colorado. The letter begins, “The termination is a result of you conducting paranormal and unidentified flying object investigations into animal mutilations…”

Zukowski has been conducting paranormal investigations for decades, many of which are documented on his website, www.ufonut.com. He is also a family man and successful microchip engineer. However, for the last eight years he has put aside time to help out the El Paso County Sherriff’s Department as a volunteer reserve deputy.

Lately Zukowski’s paranormal investigations have been getting more press. He lectures all over the country on Roswell and conducts ghost investigations, but the sheriff department’s point of contention came with a string of mysterious cattle/horse mutilations in Colorado that Zukowski investigated.

According to the sheriff’s department Zukowski publicly contradicted and was critical of their findings in relation to a horse mutilation in Rush Colorado in August of 2010. In an article by TheHorse.com regarding the Rush mutilations, it stated that the horse’s owner and Zukowski disagreed with the sheriff department’s conclusion that the death was due to “animal activity.” Furthermore, Zukowski’s website pointed out that deputies are not trained for these sorts of investigations. He says he offered to conduct training, but was turned down.

Zukowski on duty. (image credit: Chuck Zukowski)

The sheriff’s department’s termination letter also stated, “Although you have claimed not to have represented yourself as a Sheriff’s Office Reserve Deputy, the media reports allude to you as ‘volunteer El Paso County Sheriff’s Department deputy.’” Zukowski says he has never told the press his credentials as a reserve deputy, and he is not responsible for their inclusion of that fact.

In a recent story by News First 5, they looked into what provision of the county’s rules of conduct Zukowski may have violated. They say that they “discovered one provision that limits employees from criticizing the sheriff’s office. However, the rule doesn’t extend to off-duty, private conversations.”

Zukowski wonders, “Is having a volunteer deputy sheriff running UFO/Paranormal investigations on his personal time considered an eye sore to the Sheriff’s department? So much so, that they want him out of their department?”

There are many people in law enforcement conducting paranormal investigation off-duty. Their skill set and experience is invaluable when it comes to collecting evidence. For the sake of paranormal investigation, hopefully this sort of news does not deter others from their quest to seek answers into the unknown.

More on the details regarding Zukowski’s dismissal can be found at his website.

An alleged chupacabra

KPHO, the CBS affiliate in Phoenix, Arizona aired a report last night on the mythical blood-sucking creature known as the chupacabra, or “goat sucker.” Barry O’Connor, a University of Michigan biologist offered his opinion that the chupacabra has a scientific explanation. He stated, “The description of these animals clearly matches that of a mange-

Xoloitzcuintli, a breed of Mexican hairless dog

Another report aired last night on KDVR, the Fox affiliate in Denver, Colorado. This story was about a specific case—the mutilation of two horses on a ranch in El Paso, County, Colorado. This gruesome event happened back in August, and was investigated by paranormal researcher and cattle mutilation expert Chuck Zukowski. The reporter from KDVR interviewed the El Paso County Sheriff’s Department, where investigators believe an animal attack is to blame for the mutilation of the horses. But the reporter also interviewed Zukowski, who pointed out that the precision cuts found on the horses ruled out an animal attack. The ranchers, who have seen the results of animal attacks many times before, agreed with Zukowski.

This unusual surge of media attention being given to animal mutilations coincides with the recent sharp increase in media attention on the subject of UFOs.

Mutilated male horse (credit: Chuck Zukowski)

The mutilated animals were 260 feet apart, but in the same directional position. An eye was missing from each horse, and their tongues appeared to have been surgically removed. There was an incision in the middle of the female horse’s breast area, and the penis was removed from the male horse. According to the ranchers, the cuts on the body of the male horse appeared to have been made by a laser, accompanied by burn marks and a “burn type smell.”

Circular mark on the surviving horse's nose (credit: Chuck Zukowski)

The ranchers’ dog also showed a change in behavior after the incident, and he too has small lacerations.

With so many unanswered questions, Zukowski and his team will continue to investigate this ongoing case.

For more details about this case, watch the video below, or go to UFOnut.com.

However, it was Chuck Zukowski’s presentation that I found most interesting. Chuck delivered information related to recent investigations of the Roswell incident. His talk was filled with great photos from his investigations, and his delivery was extremely engaging.

Additionally, Chuck Zukowski was a guest last night on the fourth episode of Live From Laughlin. The show also contained a live interview with Barbara Lamb, and a video montage (created by Congress Production Manager Carlo Petrick) showing the first four days of the Congress.

Last night concluded with the popular Meet The Speakers cocktail party, and this year, the attendance was incredible with more than 500 people enjoying the food, the dancing, and the company.

Three more days remain!

Nearing the half-way point, day three of the International UFO Congress showed even a larger turnout than day 2, and the energy was very high. A packed room eagerly listened to the presentations throughout the day. Dolores Cannon’s talk about visitors from other planets kept the audience engaged, and her charming sense of humor made for a wonderful presentation. However, my favorite presentation of the day came from Marc D’Antonio, MUFON’s photo and video analyst. Marc’s presentation took a critical look at UFO photo and video evidence, and provided an enlightening look at photos and videos of UFOs, while encouraging people to take a more critical look at so called “evidence.”

The third episode of Open Minds’ live show, Live From Laughlin” aired last night with very special guest Bob Brown. Bob is one of the founders of the Congress, and his interview provided a touching and personal look into the creation of the International UFO Congress 19 years ago. Unfortunately, due to some technical issues related to hotel capabilities here in Laughlin, the show encountered some difficulties. However, we have been recording our shows, and we hope to put up the full, technical-issue-free versions, on our website some time following the conference.

Join us tonight for episode number four of Live From Laughlin, where we will have guests Chuck Zukowski and Barbara Lamb.

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