Cattle Rustlers, acting independently or in unison and most likely from the back of a pick up truck, have been victimizing ranchers in San Bernardino County.
The livestock thieves will typically roll up on a large animal, perhaps luring it with a bag of feed, then rope it or shoot it. On only rare occasions are the cattle taken away live. Instead they are slaughtered on the spot and then dressed out. Generally, evidence left at scene shows the animal was butchered, with the hide left behind after the meat was cut up and trimmed.
Predictably, this type of rustling predominantly takes place under the cover of night.
The most recent such known incident occurred on the night of July 24 or early morning of July 25 in the southeasternmost extreme of San Bernardino County near the Orange County frontier. The sheriff’s department was alerted at 6:48 a.m. on Wednesday July 25 that the remains of a cow were discovered in a holding pen on Rancher Joann Friend’s property on Carbon Canyon Road between Chino Hills Parkway and Turquoise Circle.
Available information is that an individual or individuals unknown gained access to the pen, which is proximate to Friend’s pasture where a herd of cattle graze.
While a common tactic to ward off cattle rustling is the branding of cattle, that stratagem does not work against those engaging in field butchering, as the hide bearing the earmark of a local cattle ranch is left behind, along with the entrails, hooves and head.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department’s Rural Task Force has been called in to assist detectives working out of the Chino Hills sheriff’s station in investigating the July 25 theft.
-Mark Gutglueck