(The Center Square) – The Montrose County Sheriff’s Office is asking the public for help finding 180 unaccounted-for missing cattle.
Sergeant Chuck Searcy told The Center Square Thursday that most of the missing cattle are calves.
Searcy said that this was a “red flag.”
“Why would only calves be missing? That tends to [law enforcement] that they’re more likely stolen than just missing,” he said. “At the same time, [law enforcement] can’t account for everyone and don’t know if one didn’t get killed by a mountain lion.”
The sergeant said it was a huge financial loss for the Colorado ranchers who own the calves. He estimated that the missing cattle are worth between $300,000 and $400,000.
“It’s not like these ranchers are becoming millionaires and making all kinds of money. This is a livelihood for them. This is their way of life. Everything they have depends on these cattle,” Searcy said.
He said that the cattle started going missing around June or July.
“These ranchers take their cattle up to these grazing permits, and they might have 300 or 400 cattle that go up there,” Searcy said. “They don’t know that they’re missing 30 or 40 or whatever it is until they bring them down off the mountain and start counting and say, hold on, ‘I took a lot more up there than this.’”
The sergeant said that ranchers “assume” that they will lose cattle yearly to predators, accidents and natural causes. However, Searcy said that this is far “beyond that and exceeds that number of what anything would be expected for a death loss for a summer.”
Searcy said the majority of the cattle are missing from an area of 75,000 acres, which is all public land. The lieutenant added that snow covers the area where the cattle are missing.
Searcy said no wolves are located in this area.
In terms of the investigation, he said the sheriff’s office has seen “great progress” in getting help from different agencies. The sergeant added that the U.S. Forest Service, Colorado Bureau of Investigation and Colorado State Patrol have all provided resources to the sheriff’s office.
Furthermore, Searcy said he appreciated the public helping spread the word about these missing cattle.
If the public has information, “please contact WestCo Dispatch at 970-249-9110.”