150 Feral Cows To Be Gunned Down By Helicopter In New Mexico Next Week

[Judi Lynn]

The Gila National Forest issued the decision amid pressure from environmental groups. Ranchers, meanwhile, have criticized the plan as animal cruelty.

SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN

Feb 17, 2023, 04:55 PM EST



In this photo provided by Robin Silver, a feral bull is seen along the Gila River in the Gila Wilderness in southwestern New Mexico, on July 25, 2020. (©Robin Silver/Center for Biological Diversity via AP)
In this photo provided by Robin Silver, a feral bull is seen along the Gila River in the Gila Wilderness in southwestern New Mexico, on July 25, 2020. (©Robin Silver/Center for Biological Diversity via AP)ROBIN SILVER VIA AP

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A helicopter with a shooter will fly over a portion of the vast Gila Wilderness in southwestern New Mexico next week, searching for feral cows to kill.

U.S. Forest Service managers approved the plan Thursday to protect sensitive spots in the nation’s first designated wilderness area. The move sets the stage for legal challenges over how to handle unbranded livestock and other stray cows as drought deepens in the West.

The Gila National Forest issued the decision amid pressure from environmental groups who raised concerns about nearly 150 cattle whose hooves and mouths are damaging streams and rivers. Ranchers, meanwhile, have criticized the plan to shoot cows from a helicopter as animal cruelty. They said the action violates federal regulations and will be problematic when carcasses are left to rot.

A section of the Gila Wilderness will be closed to the public starting Monday. A helicopter will launch Thursday, with shooters spending four days looking for feral cattle in rugged areas that include the Gila River.

More:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/feral-cattle-cows-new-mexico-helicopters_n_63eff1e9e4b0a209e8278d2d

[montanacowboy]

1. Son of a Bitch

What the hell is wrong with the USFS? Do these 100 cows pose such a threat to the environment? This is bullshit!

[intrepidity]

2. There'll be a bunch of appreciative raptors I guess. nt

[2naSalit]

3. And perhaps...

A couple wolves and other wildlife. Bad part is, they learn what cattle taste like which makes them a food option when encountered and that becomes yet another issue with the ranching crowd.

But the cattle need to be removed, this is the most expedient and efficient way to go about it.

[ratchiweenie]

4. I agree but what is a better solution? Have the conservation groups got one. Cattle are very

destructive in desert areas but you can't poison them, it's cruel and leaves dangerous meat around and in terrain like this you can't really round them up. What do they do? This is a tough one.

[2naSalit]

5. The only alternative...

Would be to round them up on horseback, not an impossible task but time consuming and costly in monetary resources. might tear up some artifacts.

This route is probably best since natural processes will make corrections over time.

Also, there must have been a special permit of some kind issued by the administrating agency (probably USDA-FS) to even conduct the flights let alone actually shooting something on the ground in a designated Wilderness Area. There are many prohibitions about use of machines and transportation machinery in a designated Wilderness Area which includes bullets landing on the ground in the Area. Landing an aircraft is a specific offense but will probably be done at some point. Aircraft time is expensive but that may be the greatest expense for this whole operation.

A lot went into this decision and planning, I know people who used to hang out of planes and helicopters to shoot tranquilizer darts or bullets at wildlife to conduct studies, it takes a bit of planning and approval. What I wish they could do is retrieve the carcasses but 150 is too many for such an operation in a designated Wilderness Area.

Hopefully they will be sort of spread out so they carcasses aren't in a concentrated area... but if they are clumped together it might make for a recovery operation of some of the carcasses.

A hard call.

[ratchiweenie]

6. Yeah, I thought about all of that. I know the FS has thought this through. I don't assume that

the FS is just going in there with helicopters like machine gun mike. I'm sure they have given a lot of thought to the best way to do this but it is a concern, where there is little water, that animals that are shot are going to head to the nearest pools and streams since as they bleed they will become very thirsty. Hope this doesn't turn into a much worse situation. Rock/Hard place.