Editor’s note: This story contains descriptions of violence, including animal death. Please read with caution.
According to a 19‑year‑old resident of County Road V.6, she was doing homework at the family farmhouse when she saw the dogs run through the muddy cattle pen and start to harass the cows.
She told deputies she grabbed her gun, went to the pen and shot the dogs.
Deputies later found two dogs dead in a field. A third was bleeding from gunshot wounds to its rear legs and groin area. The dog owner told deputies if the cows aren’t hurt, she believed her dogs should not be killed, stating, “this is like the twelfth dog he’s shot.”
The incident came after both households described a history of issues fueled by the dogs hopping fences and roaming across properties. Deputies observed dog tracks in the mud and blood near the entrance of the field and cow pen. Deputies later wrote in the report that the shooting was not criminal.
The dogs were determined to be on the livestock owner’s property and harassing cattle. Under state law, landowners may kill dogs running, worrying or injuring sheep, cattle or other livestock. Liability falls to the dog owner.
The Road V.6 case is not an isolated incident.
Conflicts involving dogs and livestock, as well as animal bites, play out several times a year in rural parts of Montezuma County – where Sheriff Steve Nowlin said the recurring issue of dogs roaming is on the rise.
The Sheriff’s Office recently warned pet owners to keep their dogs contained on their properties, citing heightened risks to livestock during calving season.
A yearslong problem with feral, free-roaming dogs came to a head in incident in late 2022, when 18 wild dogs, eight puppies and 10 adults, were surrendered from a property on County Road 20 and euthanized by Cortez Animal Shelter. The incident was investigated by The Journal.
After obtaining dozens of documents through Colorado’s Open Records Act and conducting dozens of interviews for this article, The Journal found that the case of uncontrolled dogs and livestock had lingered for five years.
Nowlin said the current dogs‑at‑large workload is constraining resources.
“We're dealing with domestic animals and livestock issues and all of that is on top of all of the other crimes that we're reacting to every single day, and it is not going well,” Nowlin said.
Last year, the department responded to 198 calls related to dogs – out of about 14,900 total calls. The sheriff listed numerous citations, with 56 aggressive animal calls, 40 dog bites and 49 lost animals recovered.
Nowlin said the department remains two deputies short and he needs an officer focused on handling countywide water disputes.
“I can't pay what we really need to pay, that's why we have the problems of recruiting and retention,” he said. “I’m losing deputies to other agencies all the time. I just lost one to Mancos last week.”
Montezuma County commissioners did not respond to a request for comment on Sheriff’s Office budgeting.
On Dec. 21, deputies responded to a call on Road E from a man saying a brown and white dog, which previously killed six of his chickens, had come back.
The man followed the dog to the neighbor’s residence to try to resolve the issue. The dog owner later said her neighbors deserved compensation for the chickens, and though she kept fixing the fence, the dog still got loose.
Both incidents reflect how roaming dogs can quickly turn into emotional and traumatic flash points between neighbors. Eddy Lewis, who sold all of his cattle two years ago, said roaming dogs attacking livestock is an ongoing issue ranchers have dealt with for years.
Some parts of the county have more problems than others, he said.
“It is usually more of a problem when you have dogs packing up like in three or four dogs at a time. They spur each other on and encourage each other,” Lewis said, also noting he believes it more commonly entails family dogs over feral dogs.
Lewis said cattle that are chased by dogs become exhausted and may suffer serious injuries, sometimes requiring veterinary treatment or euthanasia.
He said ranchers may come home to find animals bleeding with no clear explanation of what happened, and the financial and emotional toll can be significant.
The problem extends to other livestock as well. Lewis said dogs have broken into rabbit pens or killed other animals, including chickens and sheep. During early spring calving season, running primarily February through April, young livestock are particularly susceptible.
“The calves are very young, they can't run very fast and they're a lot more vulnerable to any type of attacks like that, whether it's from coyotes or dogs,” Lewis said.
The issue extends to wildlife. Colorado Parks and Wildlife spokesperson John Livingston said loose dogs also can kill deer and other species.
“The presence of dogs can disturb nesting birds and raptors. We've also seen off‑leash or roaming dogs harassing wildlife in ways, such as chasing elk and deer and disturbing dens,” Livingston said.
However, the agency has not seen issues increase within the year, nor has district wildlife manager Andy Brown recently come across feral or ownerless dogs. Nowlin said he informs CPW when these issues occur.
Jennifer Crouse, supervisor of the Cortez Animal Shelter, said the shelter has not seen an increase in stray dogs this year but levels remain normal.
“It seems to be consistently the same. I think the Sheriff’s Office is trying to let dog owners know what season it is and the rights that ranchers have to protect their livestock,” Crouse said.
Crouse said she’s seen a lot of out‑of‑state people moving to the area, and they might not be familiar with current laws.
awatson@the-journal.com
