So at the end it points to wolves, but they didn’t eat the cows, only killed them. Training the young on how to hunt?
Thats my guess, I’ve heard wolves are the the only animal on the planet that “thrill kill”

. Others have said they also will kill even when not hungry, they do it to teach others or the young how to hunt and kill, just practicing I guess. My son played ball with a guy back in the day that owns about 9,000 acres in Montana in one of the best mule deer areas in the state, he and his family also have some leases I guess. He sent my son a picture a couple years ago of 17 elk they found in about a mile radius area, all looked to be freshly killed within a couple days but none had been eatin when they came onto them, there were wolf tracks all around each kill.