The mysterious deaths of 30 head of cattle in a Chaves County corral so far have left investigators with only one piece of information: Whatever killed the cattle is not contagious. Otherwise, nobody knows why Marcelo Macias' animals dropped dead between dusk and dawn one night last week. The cattle weren't shot, stabbed, attacked by a mountain lion, or struck by lightning, a state veterinarian said. He won't rule out a bad weed in the hay bale, but he said he isn't prepared to say for certain what the culprit could be.

"There are three or four things that can develop in a bale of hay, and it can kill a cow overnight," said assistant state veterinarian Thurman Reitz. "It could be a concentration of nitrates, cyanide from a plant, botulism from a dead rodent or some other kind of toxic weed, but I haven't concluded that any of those things are what caused the cattle to die." He hopes lab tests will provide more definite answers.

Macias said the carcasses didn't show signs of mutilation. There were no incisions that appeared as though made by a scalpel, he said. The dead animals were in a corral with about 35 other cattle that weren't affected. All the animals had been given the same food and water. None has died in the last seven days.

Macias, 66, has been a rancher for 43 years. His place is at the northeastern edge of Roswell. "I don't know what killed my cattle," he said Wednesday. "I checked their water last Wednesday night (Oct. 18) and they were fine. The next morning I brought a tractor to clean the corrals and I found them dead." "He's real heartbroken about this," said his wife, Lucy, in a telephone conversation. Macias said he lost 23 pregnant cows, three bulls and four 350-pound calves. He put his total loss at more than $40,000. The cattle weren't insured.

"These were real good cows," he said. "I told my wife we were going to make some money this year, fix up the house. Now, I don't know. ... "It's been dry here all summer," he said. "It was bad. But this is real bad." Reitz said the New Mexico Livestock Board was at first concerned about the possibility of an infectious disease. "But we have ruled that out," he said. "There's no contagious disease danger to other livestock around there, or to his cattle. "But if I was him," Reitz said, "I wouldn't use any more of that hay." Macias said he has continued to use the hay for his cattle. It also has been consumed by some of his sheep and horses with no apparent ill effect. Reitz said it is possible that the cause of the deaths might never be known. Tissue samples and feed samples are undergoing laboratory tests, Reitz said.

The cattle had been dead too long to obtain serum samples, Reitz said. "We're trying to do a diagnosis on some pretty slim stuff," he said. The samples were taken during an on-site inspection conducted by Roswell veterinarian Leonard Blach. He wasn't available for comment Wednesday.

It flew US Airways, and the company, embarrassed, says it's never going to let it happen again. On Oct. 17, the six-hour flight from Philadelphia to Seattle carried 201 passengers - 200 people and one hog, which sat on the floor in the first row of first class. ``We can confirm that the pig traveled, and we can confirm that it will never happen again,'' US Airways spokesman David Castelveter said. ``Let me stress that. It will never happen again.''

Sources familiar with the incident told the Philadelphia Daily News in Friday's editions that the hog's owners convinced the airline that the animal was a ``therapeutic companion pet,'' like a guide dog for the blind. The pig was traveling with two unidentified women who claimed they had a doctor's note that allowed them to fly with the animal, according to an internal airline report. US Airways and Federal Aviation Administration rules allow passengers to fly with service animals.

The animal became unruly as the plane taxied toward the Seattle terminal, the report said, running through the jet, squealing and trying to get into the cockpit. ``Many people on board the aircraft were quite upset that there was a large uncontrollable pig on board, especially those in the first-class cabin,'' the incident report stated. The pig made it off the plane but continued squealing inside the Seattle airport. FAA officials in Seattle said they were unfamiliar with the incident but promised to investigate.

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