Brian Zehnder, who now has 25 cows and calves, and one bull on his property near the Arvada-Westminster border on Alkire Street, lost a cow and two calves after domesticated dogs attacked them on two separate occasions.
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| Arvada rancher, Brian Zehnder, gives water to a three- month-old calf that was attacked by dogs on May 6. The calf's injuries, which included paralysis, were so severe that Zehnder had to have the animal euthanized. |
The first attack happened Easter Sunday and was stopped by Zehnder’s father, John Woodif.
Woodif said he went out to the pasture when he heard a commotion and saw two collared dogs, which he described as either malamutes or huskies, circling a cow.
“They were running around, and she’d try to get up and they’d bite her down. Then they’d run around and as soon as she stopped struggling, they’d go take another bite out of her,” Woodif said. “They had her in pretty mean condition.”
Woodif said this is the first time he has lost a cow under any circumstance in the 80 years his family has been in the cattle business. The second attack occurred May 6 at night, after which Zehnder found one calf dead and another injured on the morning of May 8.
Zehnder found the carcass of a devoured newborn calf and a three-month-old calf trapped in a fenced area with her tail missing, bite marks on her hind quarters and unable to move her back legs. The Zehnders tried to nurse the calf back to health, but her wounds were too serious, and it was taken to the butcher May 10.
The Zehnders are not sure where the dogs came from, but their neighbors told them they saw the dogs running toward 100th Avenue and Simms Street in the direction of the Westminster Dog Park. But the Zehnders do not believe the dogs came from the dog park.
“It wasn’t somebody at the dog park that let their dogs go because it was dark,” said Terri Zehnder. “It wasn’t like they were out walking their dogs and they let them get away.”
Westminster police told the Zehnders there is no way to find the dogs without an ID tag number or address, and there is not much they can do if they do not have the dogs in their possession. The Zehnders said they will be on the lookout for the suspected dogs.
Their first concern is for the safety of their cows and their community, Brian Zehnder said.
“I told Terri my biggest concern is we got two vicious dogs out there,” he said. “What else did they take? Did they take someone’s dog out, or did they take a little kid out? Somebody’s got to know their dogs are getting away.”
The cattle are beef cattle, so when the Zehnders lose one, they lose profit. But profit is not the only concern they have regarding their stock.
“We do lose money every time it happens, but you just hate to see them like that too,” Terri said. “We just want to find the dogs so their owner can keep them pinned up better.”
(Our Colorado News - May 18, 2012)
