Thread: Bovines bust border barrier

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Bovines bust border barrier


13 cows became a nuisance

By Gabriel R. RomMoooo...

That's the sound some residents in Nogales West have been hearing for the past two weeks thanks to about 13 suspected illegal immigrant bovines that had been roaming the area.

Nogales Police Chief John Kissinger said his department has received 27 calls about cows that presumably crossed into the United States from Mexico disrupting the neighborhood for the last two weeks.

One was spotted noshing on grass near Mayor Albert Kramer's yard, sparking one neighbor to quip that the city's highest-ranking official had hired an undocumented "jardinero" or landscaper.

Hole in the fence

Kissinger said the cows, which donned orange tags, crossed into the United States through a 75-yard gap in the international border fence near the Mariposa Port of Entry.

On Tuesday evening, Kissinger, NPD Officers Nicholas Acevedo, Said Fierros, Juan Carlos "Flaco" Sullivan, Quinardo Garcia of the Nogales Police Department formed a band to round up the cows into a temporary corral near Carondelet Holy Cross Hospital.

Former NPD Chief Ramon R. "Rudy" Acevedo who is now a livestock officer for the Arizona Department of Agriculture joined the posse.

Kissinger said that he spoke with David Gutierrez, assistant chief patrol agent with the U.S. Border Patrol Tucson Sector about the situation.

"He said he would look into a permanent solution, but in the meantime, the Nogales Public Works Departments put up a temporary barbed-wire fence" to help keep out the four-legged intruders.

"Technically, this does not fall within our jurisdictional duties," Kissinger said. "But it was a matter of helping resolve this problem for city residents. The fence material cost less than $200."

Mayor Kramer, who resides in Nogales West, admitted he had come across a cow in his backyard.

"I thought there was someone in my backyard you know, so I went outside to check and there were these two eyes looking at me," Kramer said.

Acevedo said he would look for the owners of the cows and if he did not find them, he would put them up for auction.

Acevedo also said the cows would be temporarily stored at Michelena Corals on Old Tucson Road.

Representatives from the IBWC were unavailable for comment by press time.

This is why communities need animal control officers