Ranchers are asking a U.S. district judge to delay what they describe as a potential mass slaughter of as many as 150 “unauthorized” cows on public land in southwestern New Mexico.
Plans by the U.S. Forest Service call for shooting the cattle with high-powered rifles from a helicopter and leaving the carcasses in the Gila Wilderness. Critics say that could result in an estimated 65 tons of dead animals being left in the forest for months until they decompose or are eaten by scavengers.
