In a one-week span late last year, four Colorado ranchers reported some of their cattle had gone missing. It wasn't uncommon to lose the occasional animal to a predator, illness, or weather on the high Uncompahgre Plateau where they grazed, writes Karin Brulliard for the Washington Post. But not 187 in all, and not without some carcasses turning up. It led the ranchers and local officials to suspect they had encountered "a modern-day case of cattle rustling," but it's a perplexing—and still unresolved—one. Chuck Searcy with the Montrose County Sheriff's Office is heading up the investigation and believes theft must play a big role. Those 187 cattle could be worth $400,000 at market.
Searcy determined it wasn't a case of insurance fraud, and believes the person or persons behind the disappearances must be familiar with the area. But as Brulliard writes, "the particulars are puzzling. No semitrailer could reach the hardscrabble, unpaved altitude where these cattle were spread, the kind of range even experienced ranch hands don't know by heart." But even with the help of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Land Management, US Forest Service, and Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials—that last group sent a plane out searching for clues—and came up empty, though 17 cattle that appeared to have truly been lost were found by a "backcountry cowboy" who, spurred by a $10,000 reward being offered, set out in January and February.
But the rest remain MIA, and one of the impacted ranchers said the annual sale of her cattle in January brought in roughly 20% to 30% less than usual. It's the only money she makes all year, and her insurance policy doesn't cover theft or vanishings. Searcy hopes that once the snow is gone he'll be allowed to purchase a horse so he can better scour the area for clues. (Read the full article.)
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