Feds start rounding up Bundy’s cattle in southeastern Clark County

Hundreds of federal officers, cowboys and helicopters descended on Cliven Bundy’s backyard Saturday, launching a roundup targeting about 500 head of cattle grazing on government land. Bundy, the embattled Bunkerville rancher who owes the federal government tens of thousands of dollars in grazing fees over two decades, said from his ranch house about 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas that it only will hurt the “city folks” in Las Vegas who have come to depend on his cattle for their beef. Because of the government’s actions, Bundy said there’s going to be 500,000 fewer hamburgers per year from his cattle operation. “Anything is possible,” said the 67-year-old Bundy, speculating that it might even raise the price of beef. “When you take away a rancher’s 500 head of cattle, you’re taking away 500 calves each year, and that can’t be good for anybody. “But nobody is thinking about that. Why would they? They’re all thinking about the desert tortoise,” he said, referring to one inhabitant of the rangeland in and around Gold Butte that environmentalists say is being harmed by the cattle’s presence. “Hey, the tortoise is a fine creature. I like him. I have no problem with him. But taking another man’s cattle? It just doesn’t seem right.” The federal government plans to auction off Bundy’s cattle once the estimated 500 head are rounded up, a Herculean task that’s expected to last until mid-May The operation includes closing off more than a half-million acres of public land in Clark and Lincoln counties and using hundreds of federal agents, contract cowboys and low-flying aircraft. Agents started the operation Saturday morning, corralling 75 head of cattle into trailers and taking them south to an undisclosed compound along Interstate 15 just outside of Mesquite, Bundy said. There were no signs of Bundy supporters in the Bunkerville area Saturday, but that doesn’t mean none of them are coming in the days to come. Bundy’s story has grabbed the attention and support of other ranchers in Nevada and Utah. In all, federal officials say there are 900 head of cattle they have to round up, although Bundy said he only owns 500. He said each head of cattle that was seized Saturday is worth about $1,000. He called the government’s actions “pathetic.” “Or better yet, a form of trespassing, which they say I’ve been doing all these years,” he added. Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie, whose police department is not participating in the roundup, talked and commiserated with Bundy but also encouraged him to work it out with the federal government so that no violence would erupt. A similar roundup was scheduled in 2012, but federal officials worried that it could lead to violence and backed off. Bundy said the land in question might not be his but he has inalienable rights to it. It’s more the state of Nevada’s than the federal government’s, he said. His family has been raising cattle on that land since 1877. “The rights were created for us,” Bundy said. “I have the right to use the forage. I have water rights. I have access rights. I have range improvement rights, and I claim all the other rights that the citizens of Nevada have, whether it’s to camp, to fish or to go off road.”...more