150 feral cattle to be shot from sky in New Mexico national forest as US Forest Service issues kill

[Stevicus]

150 feral cattle to be shot from sky in New Mexico national forest as US Forest Service issues kill order

A kill order has been issued for 150 cattle in Gila Wilderness, a protected backcountry area in New Mexico.

The U.S. Forest Service announced its decision in a news release, explaining that feral cattle roaming the southwestern area of the state “pose a significant threat to public safety and natural resources."

The move, set to take place in part of the Gila National Forest, sets the stage for more legal challenges over how to handle wayward livestock as drought maintains its grip on the West.

Aerial shooting of the animals will take place Thursday through Saturday, according to the news release late last week. The memo defines feral cattle as cattle without brands, ear tags or other signs of ownership.

Gila National Forest officials are asking people to avoid the area during the shootings.

About 150 feral cows live in the wilderness area, and the Gila National Forest is working with the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to remove them in the "most efficient and humane way," the release said.

Feral cattle have been causing habitat damage in the forest since a rancher abandoned the animals on the Redstone Allotment in the 1970s, according to a document from the Forest Service.

“This has been a difficult decision, but the lethal removal of feral cattle from the Gila Wilderness is necessary to protect public safety, threatened and endangered species habitats, water quality, and the natural character of the (area),” Gila National Forest Supervisor Camille Howes said.

Cattle in the area have been aggressive toward wilderness visitors, Howes said, graze year-round and trample stream banks and springs, causing erosion and sedimentation.

Not everyone agrees with killing the cattle. Some ranchers think they should be herded up and taken to ranches.

Some cattle growers have said branded cattle could have strayed into the area over the past year because of fences and water gaps damaged during an unusually strong monsoon season, the Forest Service reported.

The agency said it's "committed to continued efforts toward collaborative solutions and will continue to coordinate with permittees in their efforts to locate, gather, and remove their branded cattle from areas where they are not authorized."

Cattle killed will be left "to naturally decompose," federal officials said, and forest staff will work to make sure no carcasses are next to or in any body of water, designated hiking trail or known culturally sensitive area.

Tom Paterson, chair of he New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association Wildlife Committee, said the group has tried to find a solution that does not involve shooting cattle, including permits to gather and herd the animals out.

But with snow on the ground, access is limited. Paterson said federal officials are not giving enough time to see if the directive will work.

“Easy is not an exception to their own rules. Frustration is not an exception to the rules,” he said. “Our society should be better than this. We can be more creative and do it a better way where you’re not wasting an economic resource.”

However, environmental groups are applauding the move, as they say that cattle ruin the land.

Environmentalists in dozens of lawsuits filed in courts across the West in years past applauded the Forest Service's decision. The cattle, they argued, ruin the land and water by trampling stream banks.

“We can expect immediate results," said Todd Schulke, co-founder of the Center for Biological Diversity. "Clean water, a healthy river and restored wildlife habitat."

Still, maybe they could have come up with another solution besides killing them?

The position marks a shift from the environmental community's stance on shooting other wildlife – from a fight over protecting bison at the Grand Canyon to annual complaints about the actions of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services, an agency often vilified for killing birds, coyotes, wolves, mountain lions and other animals.

Environmental groups have long claimed that the agency's efforts to control predators violate environmental laws.

Recent lawsuits:

• Last month in Montana, environmentalists sued over a program aimed at managing grizzly bears.
• In 2021, conservation groups settled another lawsuit in Idaho over Wildlife Services' practices.

 

[pearl]

Is this any different than open season on dear etc. because of over population etc.?

 

[Stevicus]

Is this any different than open season on dear etc. because of over population etc.?

Except that the hunters usually take the carcass home and consume it after killing the deer. In this case, they're shooting cattle from the sky and leaving their carcasses there to rot.

What they could do is hunt the cattle and donate the meat to food banks. That might be a better solution.

 

[Subduction Zone]

Except that the hunters usually take the carcass home and consume it after killing the deer. In this case, they're shooting cattle from the sky and leaving their carcasses there to rot.

What they could do is hunt the cattle and donate the meat to food banks. That might be a better solution.

Or let hunters pay for the opportunity to take the meat for themselves.

 

[Quintessence]

Q: Would it be acceptable to conduct this action on humans?

A1: If yes, proceed as per appropriate protocol.

A2: If no, do one of the following: (1) apply the same protocol to humans going forward, or (2) cease and desist use of the protocol.

Humans. Ceaselessly meddling in the affairs of other persons and externalizing the costs when they themselves are the most grievous offenders. Hypocrisy is the order of the day, along with a heaping pile of hubris and exceptionalism.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

Going through the exact same discussion here right now around feral horses in the highlands (ie. Brumbies).

 

[Secret Chief]

Is this any different than open season on dear etc. because of over population etc.?

Is there open season on humans too?

 

[amorphous_constellation]

In the whole sort of western part of this country, wasn't it characterized by prairie instead of forest, because of large herds of bovine animals? For the past many millennia, probably? So is this more about a lawyerly, legalstic debate about what to do with unmarked/unowned animals, that you expect in our extremely legalistic civilization, or is it about nature

 

[Augustus]

150 feral cattle to be shot from sky


Do they have some kind of launching device? A bit like clay pigeon/skeet shooting?

What do they use? Shotguns? Anti air guns? Surface to air missiles?

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

This is wasteful and inhumane. At least let people hunt them and eat them, so it's not just some useless slaughter. I can't imagine being a person who guns down animals from a helicopter.

 

[Valjean]

150 feral cattle to be shot from sky


Do they have some kind of launching device? A bit like clay pigeon/skeet shooting?

What do they use? Shotguns? Anti air guns? Surface to air missiles?

Judging by our recent shoot-down of assorted balloons, it might be half-million dollar missiles.

Why not try some of the contraceptive darts they've used on feral horses, and let the herds die out on their own?

 

[Twilight Hue]

This is wasteful and inhumane. At least let people hunt them and eat them, so it's not just some useless slaughter. I can't imagine being a person who guns down animals from a helicopter.

Sometimes I wonder if it's a Gung ho Vietnam wet fantasy?

Still, all that meat would do a lot of hungry people a service.

Otherwise I see a rise in the predator population as they chow down on the carcasses.

 

[Subduction Zone]

Is there open season on humans too?

Only in Jackson Mississippi:

Analysis: For second straight year, Jackson’s homicide rate ranks highest in U.S. among major cities

 

[Subduction Zone]

150 feral cattle to be shot from sky


Do they have some kind of launching device? A bit like clay pigeon/skeet shooting?

What do they use? Shotguns? Anti air guns? Surface to air missiles?

 

[Watchmen]

Q: Would it be acceptable to conduct this action on humans?

A1: If yes, proceed as per appropriate protocol.

A2: If no, do one of the following: (1) apply the same protocol to humans going forward, or (2) cease and desist use of the protocol.

Humans. Ceaselessly meddling in the affairs of other persons and externalizing the costs when they themselves are the most grievous offenders. Hypocrisy is the order of the day, along with a heaping pile of hubris and exceptionalism.

You’re vegan?

 

[Valjean]

Sometimes I wonder if it's a Gung ho Vietnam wet fantasy?

Still, all that meat would do a lot of hungry people a service.

Otherwise I see a rise in the predator population as they chow down on the carcasses.

I heard the coyote lobby pushed hard for this resolution.

 

[Stevicus]

I heard the coyote lobby pushed hard for this resolution.

No doubt with significant backing from the ACME Corporation.

 

[Quintessence]

You’re vegan?

Nope. I'm an animist.

A fair question, though - I was being a little facetious in my initial response. Still, as an animist I often think it is a way for non-animists to recognize the extreme double standards they have when it comes to how they treat human persons versus non-human persons. This is basically a state-sponsored mass shooting. It's disgusting and I'm not okay with it. That's not to say it can't ever be done, but if it is done it is done with respect and dues are paid. This mass shooting is at least well-intentioned, but it isn't being done as respectfully as I'd like to see. Not my call, though, so ultimately not my business.

 

[Secret Chief]

Only in Jackson Mississippi:

Analysis: For second straight year, Jackson’s homicide rate ranks highest in U.S. among major cities

Fair enough.

 

[Secret Chief]

I can't imagine being a person who guns down animals from a helicopter.

It's the platinum package for trophy hunters.