They have approved a controversial measure that will allow 150 wild cows to be killed by shooting from helicopters

A helicopter with gunners will fly over part of the vast Gila Desert in southwestern New Mexico, looking for wild cows to kill.

The administrators of the United States Forest Service approved the hotspot protection plan on the first wild area designated from the country. The move sets the stage for legal challenges over how to handle unbranded cattle and other stray cows as drought worsens in the West.

He Gila National Forest made the decision under pressure from environmental groups who expressed concern about almost 150 head of cattle whose hooves and mouth damage streams and rivers. Meanwhile, ranchers have slammed the plan to shoot cows from a helicopter as animal cruelty.. They said the action violates federal regulations and will be problematic when the corpses rot.

A part of Gila Desert It has been closed to the public since Monday. A helicopter will be launched on Thursday and the shooters will spend four days searching for wild livestock in rugged areas that include the Gila River.

The forest overseer Camille Howe he said the decision was difficult but necessary.

“Feral cattle in the Gila Wilderness have been aggressive along with desert visitors, it grazes year-round and tramples the banks of streams and springs, causing erosion and sedimentation,” it said in a statement.

Livestock industry groups and other rural rights advocates fear that the measures taken in New Mexico could set a precedent as more pastures fall vacant in the West.

Ranchers say fewer people are guarding the fences and rural neighbors who helped round up stray cows have moved on. Some have left the business due to worsening drought, shortages of water for livestock and soaring prices for feed and other supplies.

There New Mexico Cattlemen’s Association estimates that about 90 pasture plots are vacant in New Mexico and Arizona. Increased use of public lands, including hunting and hiking, has also resulted in falling fences, the association said. Elk are also to blame for damaging fencing designed to keep cows away.

Tom Paterson, chairman of the association’s wildlife committee, said the group had been trying to find a solution that didn’t involve shooting wild livestock. He pointed to a recent directive issued by the New Mexico Livestock Board that allows neighboring neighbors to round up and remove livestock.

With snow on the ground, access is limited. Paterson said federal officials were not giving enough time to see if the directive would work. His organization also accused the United States Forest Service to circumvent their own regulations that call for a raid first and a shoot as a last resort.

“Our society should be better than that. We can be more creative and do it in a better way without wasting an economic resource.

Environmentalists – in dozens of lawsuits in Western courts over the years – have argued that livestock ruin land and water by trampling stream banks and applauded the Service’s decision forest.

“We can expect immediate results: clean water, a healthy river and restored wildlife habitat,” he said. Todd Schulkeco-founder of Center for Biological Diversity.

The position marks a shift in the environmental community’s stance on shooting other wildlife: from a fight to protect bison in the Grand Canyon to yearly complaints about the actions of the State Wildlife Services. United States Department of Agriculturean agency often reviled for killing birds, coyotes, wolves, cougars and other animals.

Last month, environmentalists sued Montana by a brown bear control program. In 2021, conservation groups settled another lawsuit over wildlife service practices in Idaho. Environmental groups there and elsewhere have long claimed that the agency’s predator control activities violate environmental laws.

But in New Mexico, the Center for Biological Diversity he argues that water quality problems will only get worse if feral livestock are not eliminated. The group estimates that between 50 and 150 cows are grazing, without permission, in the Gila Wilderness, a remote expanse that spans more than 870 square miles (2,253 square kilometers) and is home to Mexican gray wolves, elk, deer and other endangered wildlife. of extinction.

There National Association of Beef Producers had asked the Forest Service to postpone the deadly action for a year after the New Mexico Cattle Producers Association reached a settlement with federal authorities following last year’s operation. The New Mexico group is expected to challenge the latest decision.

According to the Forest Service, the problem of feral cattle dates back half a century, when a cattle operation went out of business and subsequent grazing permits were suspended. Hundreds of unauthorized cattle have been removed over the years.

In 2022, a Forest Service contractor killed 65 cows in an aerial firing operation similar to that planned for this week.

Photos shared by herders from the 2022 operation showed dead cattle face down in the Gila River. Federal officials said those bodies were pulled from the water. An investigation 90 days later revealed that no bodies remained. Scavenging birds and other animals consumed them, authorities said.

The next operation will cover approximately 160 square miles (414 square kilometers).

Carcasses should not be left in or near waterways or springs, or near designated hiking trails or known culturally sensitive areas.

Nor can the work, i.e. the sound of the helicopter, interrupt the breeding season of the Mexican spotted owl, the southwestern willow flycatcher and other endangered species. The aerial shooting operation is expected to be completed before April, when the season for Mexican gray wolves to have cubs begins.

Conservationists used to point to the removal of cattle carcasses as a preventive measure to limit conflicts between wolves and ranchers. However, federal officials said in documents released this week that there is no scientific research or observational data to suggest that once wolves feed on a cattle carcass, they become habituated to the cattle. .

(With AP information)

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