BLM offering few details in deaths of 2 bulls in Bundy roundup

By KEITH ROGERS LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

11 years ago

Rancher Cliven Bundy looks at a calf on his ranch near Bunkerville on April 16, 2014. According to Bundy, the calf was born while in a corral set up by the Bureau of Land Management. Two bulls were shot and killed during the roundup. The BLM has not given many details on the bulls and the Bundys say they are still missing cattle. (John Locher/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

The Bundy family and their supporters drive their cattle back onto public land outside of Bunkerville after they were released by the BLM on April 12, 2014. (Jason Bean/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Since two bulls were shot during the weeklong roundup of Cliven Bundy’s cattle in the Gold Butte area, Bureau of Land Management officials have been short on details about how and why they were killed and buried in the back country, 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas.

In separate interviews, a state brand official, Cliven Bundy and his son, Ryan Bundy, tried to shed light on the death of the bulls and other cattle that possibly were killed.

“We know there’s a mass grave up there that’s about one-third full of cattle and dirt,” Cliven Bundy said. “We don’t know how much is dirt and how much is cattle, but it’s probably 50 foot long, 15 foot wide and 10 foot deep.”

Ryan Bundy said that based on the BLM’s official count and his family’s count as cattle were herded under the Virgin River bridge toward the government’s corral, “We were short about 37 head.”

“Now that doesn’t count the calves we might have lost through their roundup,” he said Friday. “That’s not official, but, again, that’s how I got that number.”

Flint Wright, an administrator with the state’s division of Animal Industry, said the BLM told state officials that they shot the bulls because they were too wild and couldn’t round them up.

Wright said he didn’t see the bulls that were killed out on the range, and he didn’t know whether they have brands. The state agency isn’t doing an investigation because they didn’t see any violations, Wright said, adding that any investigation would be up to the Clark County sheriff to determine whether animal cruelty was involved.

“The BLM told us they shot them, and their explanation at the time was the bulls are very wild and they couldn’t get them gathered,” Wright said.

He stressed that his agency’s role was simply brand inspection and establishing the ownership of stray livestock. Five cows in the roundup were returned to another owner, he said.