As cattle prices go up, so does cattle rustling

Posted by Bill Donovan | Sep 3, 2015 | News |

WINDOW ROCK

Cattle rustling is becoming a problem once again on the Navajo Reservation.

“It’s really a problem that is related to the economy,” said Stan Milford, a ranger sergeant for the Navajo Nation Resource Enforcement Department.

With cattle now bringing in as much as $1,200 a head, more ranchers on the reservation are sending in reports to the tribal rangers that their cattle herd is being reduced by rustlers who come in during the dead of the night and steal a few head and then drive off the reservation to sell them at auction or to slaughter houses.

This is a problem that has been around since the Old West days and it never seems to go away. It just seems to go in cycles.

Of course, in the old days, cattle thieves were usually hung from the nearest tree. Nowadays, they get charged with theft and go to tribal court where they pay a fine or get a short time in jail.

That’s for the few people who are caught but Milford points out that the reservation is so vast – some 27,000 square miles – and the number of field rangers so small – only 10 at the present time – that it makes it difficult to provide any kind of deterrent to people who want to come onto the reservation and steal cattle.

“This is a problem that is everywhere,” he said, pointing to recent news articles that say ranchers in Oklahoma and Texas are also having massive problems in keeping their herds from being ravaged by cattle thieves.

Because of the limited number of rangers and the thousands of miles they have to cover daily, the rangers put together special operations on various weekends to do saturation patrolling in those areas where cattle rustling is more prevalent.