Colorado Investigators Mystified by Dozens of Cattle Deaths

Wolves? Bacteria? Bigfoot? Officials are “scratching our heads.”

Getty Images

This story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.

Investigators in Colorado have been left baffled after dozens of cattle inexplicably dropped dead in a remote corner of the state.

The mystery has triggered a wave of US press coverage, with the New York Post running a headline claiming: “Cattle slaughtered by mystery creature that left no tracks.”

About 40 cows and calves have been found dead near the town of Meeker, in northwest Colorado, in the past two months. Wolves were initially blamed for the deaths, but Colorado Parks & Wildlife officials have since said that only five of the deceased cattle showed wolf-related injuries.

The investigation has since focused on whether the cows could have been infected with a deadly bacteria, but postmortems have revealed no evidence of that, either. The saga is “perplexing,” Travis Black, CPW northwest region manager, told a parks commission in mid-November. “We’re scratching our heads a little bit. We don’t know exactly what has occurred up there.”

A rancher in Meeker first reported the deaths of 18 cattle in October. At the time, CPW officials thought wolves could have slaughtered the animals, but as the number of the dead continued to grow, it emerged that only five showed the hallmarks of a wolf attack, described by Black as “missing tails, bite marks on the hocks and flanks and hamstrings.” There was also no evidence that wolves had returned to their prey, which Black said was unusual.

The Denver Post reported that investigators have used sophisticated technology to determine if wolves are present in the area, including trail cameras and manned flights. The search has also included howling surveys, during which, according to the website All Things Nature, “biologists will stop periodically and howl, and then wait for a response.”

At the culmination of these efforts, Black said: “We have no evidence of wolves in that area.” He added: “That doesn’t mean they’re not there. Sometimes wolves can be difficult to locate.”

CPR News reported that wildlife officers are monitoring a wolf family based in Jackson county, but the wolves’ territory is 100 miles from the location of the cattle deaths.

Officials have also investigated whether the cattle could have had a bacterial infection, Black said. Certain bacteria can lie dormant in a cow before being aggravated by stressful situations, such as being hunted by wolves or dogs.

Examinations of the dead cattle have proved inconclusive, however. The Denver Post reported that microscopic lesions, which typically indicate a bacterial infection, were not present in the animals.

Black said the investigation would continue, and admitted it can take time to find evidence of wolves, but as it stands, there is no explanation for the deaths of the cattle.

“We’re trying not to jump to conclusions here,” Black said.

More Mother Jones reporting on Climate Desk

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with The Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with The Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate