Officials with the U.S. Forest Service have announced they are moving forward with a plan to destroy a herd of 50 to 150 feral cattle in New Mexico’s Gila Wilderness by shooting them from the air.
The area of operations will be closed on Monday, with shooting set to begin next Thursday and continue through Feb. 26. The closed area covers around 160 square miles, according to the Associated Press.
The feral herd has lived in the Gila Wilderness since 1998, abandoned after the last grazing permits in the area lapsed. Officials have determined that the cattle are a threat to local wildlife, particularly in riparian habitats near water supplies.
“The feral cattle in the Gila Wilderness have been aggressive towards wilderness visitors, graze year-round, and trample stream banks and springs, causing erosion and sedimentation. This action will help restore the wilderness character of the Gila Wilderness,” Gila National Forest Supervisor Camille Howes said in the announcement.
Federally endangered species particularly threatened by the presence of the bovines are the “southwest willow flycatcher, narrow-headed garter snake, Gila chub, loach minnow, and Spikedace,” according to a Forest Service memo.
Previous efforts to deal with the cattle from 1998 to the present have seen 211 cattle removed, and 65 killed in a February 2022 effort. The ineffectiveness of removal efforts, where half of the seized cattle needed to be euthanized due to stress or injury in the capture process, helped spur authorities to their present course of action.
Dead cattle will be left to naturally decompose, with carcasses near water, hiking trails, and culturally significant areas moved.
Civil society groups are split on the decision. Environmentalists approve the removal of an invasive species they contend threatens local habitats.
“We can expect immediate results — clean water, a healthy river and restored wildlife habitat,” Center for Biological Diversity co-founder Todd Schulke said, according to the AP.
Ranchers, meanwhile, do not like the precedent that clearing cattle off of vacant grazing lots represents, and sees the action as both cruel and wasteful. Ranchers and other stakeholders met with officials Thursday, where authorities explained their plans.
“Easy is not an exception to their own rules. Frustration is not an exception to the rules. Our society should be better than this. We can be more creative and do it in a better way where you’re not wasting an economic resource,” Tom Paterson, chairman of the New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association’s wildlife committee, told the AP.
NMCGA President Loren Patterson said in a statement that the meeting “proved the [U.S. Forest] Service is willing to bypass all stakeholder input and effectively turn their backs on sound reasoning. Out of the six groups represented (in the meeting), the Forest Service is the only one in favor of aerial operations.”
Ranchers also contend that the operation violates government regulations, and that a roundup is supposed to be conducted before the commencement of shooting.
Other cattle owners are worried that branded cattle could have strayed into the Gila Wilderness, and could thus get caught up and killed in the cull.
“The Forest Service is 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,” officials said in the announcement.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
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