The discovery of a dozen or so goat carcasses in a field in an unincorporated area of Will County has baffled area officials and an animal rights group. Everyone agrees though, that a crime was committed. Little is clear after that
Paul Likes made the discovery last Tuesday when a friend brought a new ATV by his landscaping business. He decided to take it for a quick spin in the fallow, 138-acre corn field next to his shop in Clow Creek Industrial Park, an island of unincorporated Will County land surrounded by Naperville, Plainfield, Oswego and Aurora.
During that ride, Likes discovered the carcasses.
At first he thought they were deer that had perhaps been taken down by coyotes.
Then he considered they were goats that had perhaps been slaughtered for some sort of ritualistic sacrifice, as goats are often prevalent in Satanic and occult imagery.
"I just thought that was kind of strange, you know. Kind of spooky," Likes said.
He said some of the goats had been dismembered, and that some of them had been set on fire. At least one still had a chain around its neck.
All of them had been nearly picked clean by scavengers. Roughly half of them were piled together. The others had been drug and scattered about the field.
For the most part, all of the remains were in a depressed area near the center of the property, next to one of about three brush piles built up in an uncultivated area in the center of the field.
The field is owned by Plano resident Don Hamman, who stressed Friday that he is strictly a grain farmer. Hamman said he has no livestock, and he had no idea the animal remains were on his property. Hamman at first suspected the goat carcasses had simply been dumped there by the same sort of people who litter his land with junk they no longer need.
But after learning exactly where the carcasses were found, he, too, began to wonder whether the animals were killed there in a sort of ritualistic activity.
They were found 300 to 400 yards away from the nearest entrance to the property in an area that cannot be seen from any of the roads or buildings surrounding the land.
Likes contacted the Will County Sheriff's Department about his discovery. Sheriff's officials and the county's animal control and health departments reached a consensus that the matter came under the jurisdiction of the Illinois Department of Agriculture in Springfield.
Copyright 2008 STNG Wire, The Chicago Sun-Times. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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