Depok. For Dwi, Wednesday morning began like any other. As she stepped out to feed her goats in Depok, West Java, she expected the familiar sounds of bleating from the cage next to her home. Instead, she was greeted by a chilling scene: pools of blood and scattered internal organs where her livestock once stood.

“I came to the cage at 7 a.m. to feed my goats, but what I saw were internal organs and blood,” Dwi recalled, her voice breaking. “It’s very devastating to me.”

Eight of her goats had been slaughtered quietly in the early hours, their meat stolen under the cover of darkness. Dwi, who has been raising goats as a business for the past six years in Sawangan District, said she hadn’t heard a thing all night.

“I believe the theft involved more than two people and they must have used a car to carry the meat. But there wasn’t a single noise. That’s what makes this so strange,” she said.

Police believe the thieves likely struck around 3 a.m., working with such precision and silence that no one in the neighborhood noticed until it was too late.

What’s even more unsettling for residents is that this isn’t the first incident of its kind. In May, four goats were found slaughtered in their cages elsewhere in Depok, echoing similar cases reported over the past two years.

“This method of cattle theft has occurred several times, but the perpetrators are never caught,” a neighbor said, requesting anonymity. “We hesitate to start goat farming again.”

The method is as ruthless as it is efficient. Rather than risk transporting live animals, thieves kill the livestock on-site and leave behind only the parts they don’t need.

Reports from other provinces suggest the trend isn’t limited to goats. In some areas, cattle thieves have employed the same silent slaughter method on cows, leaving farmers across the country anxious and frustrated.

Depok police say investigations are ongoing, but for Dwi and others like her, the damage has already been done -- not just in lost livestock, but in peace of mind.