US: USDA gets greenlight for cattle hunt

Published 2023년 2월 27일

Tridge summary

A federal judge in New Mexico has allowed the USDA to proceed with a plan to shoot up to 150 'unauthorized' cattle from a helicopter in the Gila National Forest, despite opposition from local cattle producers and an animal rights group. The USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) argues that the feral cattle, which have caused damage to the wilderness, pose a threat to public safety and natural resources. The cattle producers have challenged the Forest Service's authority to hunt the cattle and criticized the agency for not repairing faulty fences to prevent the cattle from entering the forest. The Forest Service claims the cattle have become 'undomesticated' and estimates their numbers to be between 150 and 200.

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Original content

WASHINGTON (DTN) -- USDA got the greenlight to start hunting as many as 150 cattle by helicopter in a New Mexico national forest after a federal judge on Wednesday, Feb. 22, declined to halt the hunting plan. U.S. District Judge James O. Browning for the U.S. District Court in New Mexico filed a 27-page opinion on Wednesday following a court hearing in Albuquerque, New Mexico, allowing USDA to go ahead with plans to shoot feral cattle in the Gila National Forest in southwest New Mexico. Browning rejected the request from cattle producers and others for a temporary restraining order to halt the aerial hunt. In rejecting the restraining order, Browning noted, "No one disputes that the Gila Cattle need to be removed and are doing significant damage to the Gila Wilderness." New Mexico cattle producers and an animal rights group had asked the federal courts to halt USDA's plan. USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) plans to shoot as many as 150 "unauthorized" cattle ...

Source: Dtnpf