The cows that didn't come home

The mystery of the dead cows (14 altogether) that have washed ashore in Denmark and Sweden during the last couple of weeks now seems to have been solved. There has been a lot of speculation about the case in the media, as the cows had their back legs tied together, the abdomen cut open, and their ears cut off. 

Closer examination of some of the dead animals only served to deepen the mystery, as they seemed to be very high quality animals, and at least two of them seemed to have been killed with a bolt gun.

A few days ago, an eye-witness came up with the crucial information that cracked the case. This man is the nautical equivalent of a trainspotter, and a couple of days after Christmas he had been out for a walk along the Kiel Channel in Germany. That day he saw a Lebanese ship loaded with cattle sailing through the channel. 

Police have later been able to track the ship to a Russian harbor where the ship was refused permission to land because they had about a dozen dead animals on board. The ship had been through some rough weather, and it is possible the animals were killed by the ship tossing in the waves or had to be put down, because they panicked and possibly hurt themselves in the process.

The theory is that the ship sailed back into the Baltic, and simply dumped the cows. The back legs were tied together to allow a crane to pick them up, the abdomen was cut open probably because the crew on the ship thought it would make them sink, and the ears (eartags) were cut off for the captain to be able to prove he had had the animals on board.

Unfortunately for him, dumping anything in the Baltic is illegal, so the authorities in Denmark, Sweden and Germany are now waiting for the ship to try and leave the Baltic again. And then it will probably be stopped, and the crew and captain prosecuted.

Here is a link to a danish tv-report on the cows.

http://lokalavisen.dk/section/xweb-tv/&id=7524