Woodbury County authorities are investigating the mysterious death of 17 head of cattle this weekend. Lieutenant Charles Hertz of the Woodbury County Sheriff’s Office, says the cattle were discovered by a creek near Lawton around 1:30 Saturday afternoon.

Hertz says there were no marks on the animals or anything else to indicate why they died.

The samples are going to be forwarded to Storm Lake to have further tests done on them. The state vet also took samples from these animals and there will be further tests conducted,” according to Hertz. Hertz says there are not indications of criminal activity as they continue to investigate looking for the cause of the death of the animals.