In southwestern New Mexico’s Gila Wilderness, a team of wildlife managers has eliminated 19 wild cows as part of a disputed initiative to remove the unauthorized animals from the region.
The operation, which spanned three days and utilized a helicopter and high-powered rifles, targeted an area where federal officials and environmentalists allege that the cows have been harming water quality, damaging habitats for other species, and trampling stream banks.
The U.S. Forest Service had previously estimated that up to 150 cows were present in the Gila River vicinity.
On Tuesday, the agency disclosed that its personnel had conducted visual and thermal searches, revealing significant numbers of elk, deer, javelina, and rabbits. However, no additional cattle were detected following the mission. The animal carcasses will be left to decompose in the forest, and the Forest Service intends to monitor the area.
Some ranchers opposed the project, contending that rounding up the cows and taking them away would have been a more humane approach to clearing them out of the wilderness. They claimed that the Forest Service had violated its own policies, but a federal judge rejected their request to halt the operation, stating that the cows were, in fact, feral and that the Forest Service had the authority to eliminate them.
