BLM Won’t Say if They’ve Euthanized Cows in Ranch Standoff

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will not say if they have euthanized any cows in the roundup of Cliven Bundy’s cattle on public land in Nevada. Amy Lueders, the Nevada state director for the BLM, said in a conference call Thursday evening that the agency does have a “protocol,” but would not release any numbers for animals they have found dead or that they have euthanized. A reporter asked about heavy construction equipment that was seen coming in and out of the blockade, and whether cattle have been found dead, injured, or euthanized during the operation. “In terms of the number that we’ve found, animals who are, I think, deceased on the range, or if we’ve had to euthanize an animal, we don’t have an answer to that question at this time,” Lueders said. “We will euthanize an animal during the impoundment if they exhibit dangerous characteristics, threaten the health and safety of the employees, display a hopeless prognosis for life.” “So, we do have a protocol in terms of when we would euthanize animals,” she said. “But we don’t have any answers at this time in terms of the numbers.” Lueders said she understood that the heavy equipment was being used to “restore land that has been affected by the trespass cattle.” The Bundy family has expressed concerns that the cattle are being mistreated. Stetsy Bundy Cox, Cliven Bundy’s daughter, told the Washington Free Beacon that she believes calves are being left behind. “I watched them gather a herd off the river with helicopters, and they had rounded them for miles and by the time I saw them they were pushing them up the wash,” she said. “Most of them were mamas with babies because it’s calving season, and they’re just little. And I watched the calves, they couldn’t keep up very good and they kept slowing down and the helicopter would swoop down and you could hear them honking at them. And he kept swooping down and honking at them.” Cox said that calves will hide under brush, and it is likely that employees removing the cattle would not see them. “I also know my dad’s cows, because a few of those cows out there are my own personal cows,” she said. “When you push them too hard, or if you rope them they sulk. They’re kind of stubborn. And if they don’t want to go they’ll sulk. And if they get down and sulk they’ll sulk so long they won’t even get up, they’ll just die. So if you stress those cows out too much, they’ll do that.” “Do I think they are leaving baby calves out there? I do,” Cox said. “Do I think that cows are dying? I do.”...more

Many will recall it was just this situation - the separation of the cows from their calves - that caused the confrontation between rancher Kit Laney and the feds and that eventually led to him receiving a prison sentence.