Cattle killers
By KEVIN WISER
Express Staff Writer
The Blaine County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the shooting
of 10 head of cattle which occurred in two separate incidences over the last
two-and-a-half weeks.
According to Sheriff Walt Femling, six Black Angus cattle—three cows,
a bull and two calves—were shot and killed June 9 on Bureau of Land Management
grazing allotments along Picabo Desert Road south and east of Timmerman Junction.
The rancher reporting the shootings requested not to be identified,
Femling said.
Then, on Wednesday or Thursday of last week, Femling said four Herefords
were shot on a grazing allotment in the Ohio Gulch area.
Cattle rancher Dale Mizer, who owned the four cattle, said his family has
been grazing cattle in the gulch for over 100 years.
"My granddad came to Blaine County in the early 1880s and started a
homestead up in Ohio Gulch," the 80-year-old rancher said. "He dug a spring and
chipped out a watering trough from an old cottonwood log. I don’t know what the
hell’s coming from this. It’s just a terrible thing."
Mizer’s wife, Mary, referred to those responsible for the shootings
as "marauders."
"They killed four of our 23 cows," Mary said. "They just
gut shot them so they suffered for days."
Mary said the small cattle operation was their only source of income
besides social security and the small nest egg they managed to save over the years
"We live very frugal. We don’t go on vacation or out to
dinner," she said. "You work hard all your life and try to get ahead and someone
comes along and does something like this. I think it’ s just disgusting."
Femling said that in both the Ohio Gulch and Picabo Desert shootings a
small caliber rifle, possibly a .22-caliber, was used and that his department was
investigating the shootings as related incidences.
Femling said the shooting and killing of cattle, which are valued at well
over $1,000 each, is considered a felony.
Femling said his department has contacted the Idaho State Brand Inspector,
a branch of the state Department of Law Enforcement, to assist in the investigation.
He said there are currently no suspects in the cattle shootings. He asked
that anyone who saw any unusual activity, or people shooting in the areas where the
killings occurred, to contact the Sheriff’s department.
