Illegal Dumping The Cause Of Dead Cattle In Desert

After a viewer came to KFOX with a complaint of dead cattle left in a desert just west of Anthony, N.M., KFOX went to check it out and without a doubt it didn't take long to notice there was a problem. The cause of the death of numerous cows was suspicious as some cattle remains were in a bag, some were buried and some body parts were randomly found throughout the desert.

Tuesday, KFOX went back out to the site with Dona Ana County livestock inspector Trey Bays to try and find out what is happening to the cattle.

“Out here, this is just a bad case of illegal dumping,” said Bays.

He also said there are a couple of explanations as to why people dump these cows out there.

“Seems to look like it's roping steers and they probably got hurt, injured or even died at the owner's property and he just drug them out here because the dumps won't accept carcasses,” says Bays.

And as for the ones in the bags, he said people will butcher a cow, keep what’s good and the rest is history.

“They put all the guts, the unusable parts in a black paper bag, or black plastic bag and took them off in the desert and dump them off in the desert,” he said.

Even though dumping dead livestock is against the law, Bays said it’s only a misdemeanor with a fine reaching up to $100.

Furthermore, he said it's almost impossible to do anything at this point with the current carcasses that KFOX showed him.

“All these carcasses aren't branded with the current brand so there is no way to do a trace back,” said Bays.

“All these carcasses aren't branded with the current brand so there is no way to do a trace back,” said Bays.