Last Friday I had weather cows, this week it’s frozen cows. From the “winter that wasn’t” department, it seems that the winter in Colorado was bad enough to cause some free range cows to seek shelter in/around a rustic shelter cabin – and then froze to death in place.
The carcasses were discovered by two Air Force Academy cadets when they snow-shoed up to the cabin in late March. Rangers believe the animals sought shelter during a snowstorm and got stuck and weren’t smart enough to find their way out.
The cabin is located near the Conundrum Hot Springs, a nine-mile hike from the Aspen area in the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness area.
…
Forest Service spokesman Brian Porter said rangers saw about six cows inside the cabin, and several dead cows lying around the building.
“There is a lot of snow, and it’s hard to determine how many cows are there,” Porter said.
U.S. Forest Service spokesman Steve Segin said Tuesday they need to decide quickly how to get rid of the carcasses.
“Obviously, time is of the essence because we don’t want them defrosting,” Segin said.
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They should be thawing just in time to feed the hungry bears as they come out of hibernation.
Why do they have to “fix” every problem? The scavangers need to eat too!
Larry
Conundrum Creek, Eh?
They need to carefully consider how they plan to use that explosive. Many people don’t understand this but explosives just don’t make stuff “disappear”.
Remember that law of physics called Conservation of Mass…
Maybe they should not take some advice from the Oregon Department of Transportation!
That did not turn out too well.
Sad. Poor cows. : (
Remember a few years ago when they blew up a beached whale and it rained blubber?
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ8jGqdE2iw&w=420&h=315%5D
Just leave the door open. The coyotes will clean up the mess as fast as it melts.
“We don’t want them defrosting…” Uh, yeah. I can agree with that 🙁
By the time GISS/NASA modelers get through, the number of Dead Cows will approach a ghost herd while the Ranger’s Cabin will be subject to long-range climatic scrutiny that suppresses the Medieval Warm.
What could possibly go wrong?
They’re going to defrost sometime, unless they’re burying them on Phobos.
sad story. No living thing deserved their fate.
Which way were they facing?
Bet the wolves won’t touch it. They only go after bleeding beef.
Fetchez la vache! http://youtu.be/JQ8jGqdE2iw
Anyone planning on opening a burger bar gets a nice head start. Location leaves something to be desired, though.
All they needed was some matches to light off their methane emissions to warm the shelter.
If they’re still frozen, just cut them up with a chainsaw and truck them over to the local supermarket.
/Mr Lynn
Spelling. Should the first paragraph end “froze to death in place” rather than “froze to death it place”?
That as the second thing I thought when reading the article, the first was the exploded whale.
Hire a butcher or big game hunter with a chain saw and if the meat is not fit for human consumption, spread the remains around outside for scavengers.
Doug in Seattle says:
April 17, 2012 at 6:33 pm
Yes they will! I’m pretty sure there are wolves in the area as well as other scavengers, too. No need to expend a lot of energy on this non problem.
It is common to “remove” a large dead animal (horse or mule) from on or near a hiking trail in a remote area in this manner. If actually on the trail the protocol is to “relocate” the trail some distance away. In the case of the cows in the cabin the plan might be to drag them out and away, assuming the cabin is to be kept intact.
Moving heavy things (rocks, logs) in remote areas is easily accomplished with this item:
http://murphyindustrialproducts.com/cable_grip_hoists_grip_pullers.html
Reminds me of a story I heard about the university pharmacology department in Giessen, Germany. They used to store radioactively contamined cadavers of experimental animals in a big chest freezer. One day there was a power failure, and the cadavers all thawed and coalesced into one big gooey gunk. The power then came back on, and the whole mess turned into one big block of frozen, radioactive gunk.
How do you dispose of a thing like that? Well, they didn’t know, either, and while these events are a good while back, for all I know the frozen cadaver soup might still be there. Maybe the cowboys from Colorado have an idea how to deal with it, too?